Although scammers are getting innovative with the way they target their victims, who could’ve imagined that even religion could be used as a way to scam the public.
With Hari Raya Haji coming up this Sunday, many Malaysians were considering making the trip to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj pilgrimage.
However, it was reported that about 380 would be Hajj pilgrims were left stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday morning (July 7) after they were believed to have been cheated by a travel agency.
The group were spotted gathering at Level 5 at the airport’s departure hall. Photos of the stranded group have gone viral on social media.
According to BERNAMA, the prospective pilgrims are believed to have used the furada visa – a private visa issued by Saudi Arabia, without involving the quota allocated to Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH).
The pilgrims were initially supposed to depart for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at 4:30pm, but the travel agency later told them that their flight had been postponed to 7pm.
However, they discovered that the last flight to Jeddah was at about 6pm.
The group also claimed the agency had never shown their flight tickets and visas to perform the Hajj.
Each victim paid thousands of ringgit to go to Mecca, with one woman even forking out RM76,000 of her savings.
One of the victims said, “Until now, we have not gotten our passports back because the travel agency is still holding them.”
A travel agency representative allegedly responsible for the scam met with the group at KLIA. However, no real explanation was provided for the issue.
Speaking to Astro Awani, KLIA district police chief ACP Imran Abd Rahman said that 17 police reports against the travel agency had been lodged from yesterday until 4:30am today (July 8) by victims in the alleged cheating case.
He said that police had interviewed the owner of the travel company, who is now a suspect in the case.
“Yesterday, we interviewed him to get the story. As a result of this report, we will investigate whether there is any element of deception,” he stated.
The case is being probed under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, which provides for a jail term of up to 10 years, whipping, and a fine if convicted.
Have you ever been cheated by a travel agency? Let us know in the comments.
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