Nearly 25thousand Muslim pilgrims perform Hajj from the UK every year. ABTA finds each year several cases where pilgrims pay for travel engagements which are shown sub-standard or in the poor conditions, fraud leaving victims out of pocket by huge expanse.
Some pilgrims have the lodgings they booked do not exist while others realize their whole a rip-off set up by illegal travel operators who are disappeared with thousands of pounds of their money.
According to previous year's reporting figures, Hajj related fraud made to Action Fraud, marking a 143% increase and offending were London, the West Midlands, and Manchester.
UK Muslims have lost almost £1 million (Dh4.97m) to bogus travel agents who target families booking first time trips to perform the Hajj.
Between 2013 and 2017, victims lost £988,743 in the UK at a different platform. Per person met loss between £1,000 (Dh4,974) to £33,000 (Dh164,000). The City of London Police operation said that several Hajj fraud victims will have protected for years to be able to afford to travel to KSA and they will realize how they have been tricked by fraudsters.
Since Hajj frauds are destroying the dreams of UK Muslims performing the fifth pillar of Islam once in a lifetime to Mecca, so that is why we are raising awareness of this crime to make sure the major pilgrimage (Hajj) safe and sound. However, Pilgrims should receive an ATOL Certificate as soon as they have paid any money to travel Agency. All UK traveling agencies have ATOL License to sell day off packages including Hajj and Umrah cheap package. So, pilgrims must check its validity on the CAA website.
To overcome such shameful acts, the City of London Police will be working with Birmingham Trading Standards to comply with visits and checks on relevant travel agents. More work will be done to help educate officers on how to help victims of Hajj fraud and to ensure correct reporting.
Pilgrims who are planning to travel to Hajj through online should avoid paying travel companies by direct bank transfer in which most legitimate companies have facilities with a bank to accept credit or debit cards. If pilgrims pay by bank transfer and the company moves to be fraudulent then it will be practically impossible to get money back.
Some scams claim accommodation in Saudi Arabia but, they do not have while others illegitimate travel operators are disappeared with thousands of pounds.
Action Fraud got 17 Hajj-related complaints in 2017, and most of those incidents were involving London, the West Midlands, and Manchester.
Action Fraud said the 17 reports are just the "tip of the iceberg and average age of the fraud victims is 42. At taking action against Fraudsters, Babur Husain was found in Hajj scam from Greater Manchester. He was jailed 14 months for fraud in 2017 after claiming that he was organizing ATOL-protected Hajj tours.
Consequently, to protect pilgrims against fraud is to ensure the company as a member of a recognized trade association such as ABTA. The basic purpose of ABTA is to minimize the chance of fraudulent companies joining. It also suggests verifying a company's ABTA membership through its website.
