MANILA, Philippines -- The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) presented to the media on Friday a woman who was allegedly engaged in a million-dollar investment scam.

Nimfa Montes Beredo, alias Patricia Beredo, 45, a native of Lumban Laguna, allegedly duped several people -- Filipinos and foreigners alike -- by enticing them to invest in the travel and ticketing business.

The suspect's modus was clearly a Ponzi or "pyramid" scheme, a fraudulent investment operation that involved paying abnormally high, short-term returns to investors out of the money raised from new investors, rather than from profits generated by any real business, said Marianito Panganiban, chief of the NBI Anti-Organized Crime Division.

NBI records showed that the suspect was being sought by authorities for her conviction in an estafa (fraud) case tried in the sala of Pasig City regional trial court Judge Alicia Marin-Co. She was sentenced to 17 to 20 years imprisonment.

Investigation further showed that while the trial was going on in 1995, the suspect jumped bail and fled to the United States where she allegedly continued her illegal activities.

Her fraudulent scheme, however, led to the filing of multiple complaints against her, which eventually led to her deportation to the Philippines.