Chinese wanted for pyramid scheme in Fujian nabbed in Pasay City

July 7, 2019

Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents arrested a Chinese fugitive wanted by authorities in Beijing for economic crimes and engaging in large-scale fraud that victimized thousands of his compatriots who were lured to invest in a pyramid investment scheme.

BI intelligence officer Bobby Raquepo, who heads the Bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU), identified the fugitive as 40-year-old Hu Mingtian, who was arrested Tuesday evening inside his residence unit in Pasay City.

Hu, according to Raquepo, has been on the wanted list of the BI since last month when he was issued a summary deportation order by the bureau’s board of commissioners for being an undesirable and undocumented alien.

The Interpol and Chinese embassy earlier sought the BI’s help in locating Hu who is the subject of a criminal complaint from 7,455 victims who claimed they were defrauded of more than 435 million yuan (US$63 million).

Chinese authorities alleged that Hu perpetrated the scheme from March 2016 to September 2018 when, without government approval, he operated a pyramiding business in Fujian province that enticed victims to deposit their money, with a promise that their investments would earn huge profits.

“Instead of fulfilling his promise, however, he absconded with the victims’ money and fled to the Philippines together with two of his accomplices who remain at large,” Raquepo said.

He added that Hu has been illegally staying in the Philippines as an undocumented alien because the Chinese government already cancelled his passport last May 31.

Raquepo said Hu is “scheduled to be deported immediately upon securing the clearances for his departure".

It was also learned that Hu was already placed in the BI blacklist and banned from re-entering the country. DMS