Wednesday, December 20, 2017

ALOR STAR: Dzulkifli Abdullah, 51, was all excited to take his wife to the Holy land to perform their first umrah pilgrimage.

He had paid RM14,600 for the trip and the couple held a kenduri (feast) to pray for a smooth journey scheduled on Dec 5.

However, Dzulkifli and wife Che Noorma Abdul Raoh, 47, sensed something fishy when they were told that their flight had been postponed to Dec 8.

"I became anxious when our trip organiser told us that our departure was once again rescheduled to Dec 17.

"My heart sunk when there was no news on the departure when the date was closing in and we decided to refer the matter to the Kedah Consumer Association (Cake)," he said.

The couple was among 25 people who became the first group of umrah pilgrims in the state to fall victims to such scam this year.

Frustrated and angry that they had been cheated by the organiser, Dzulkifli and the other victims sought Cake's help on Sunday to seek justice.

Cake secretary Mohd Yusrizal Yusoff who attended to the complaints contacted the trip organiser and the company which handled the victims' visa application.

Yusrizal later discovered that an ustazah who organised the trip was a victim to the scam allegedly pulled by a Malaysian woman who was residing in Mecca.

The ustazah, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had deposited RM118,000 into the woman's account for the flight ticket, hotel, meals and transport in the Holy land.

"The rest of the money I paid directly to a travel agency to process the visa application and another RM200 for ticket from Alor Star to Kuala Lumpur International Airport," she said at Cake office here today.

She showed payment slips for money deposited into the woman's account and the travel agency.

The ustazah said she has been organising umrah trip for the past two years with other travel agencies and had never encountered a problem.

However, when the elderly folks in the group for this trip requested her to arrange for a direct flight from KLIA to Saudi Arabia, she sought the help of the woman whom she met during the previous umrah trip.

"The elderly folks wished for a direct flight as they are not fit to rush from one terminal to another at the Dubai International Airport..

"So I sought the service of this Malaysian woman who lives in Mecca who claimed that she had been organising umrah trips with several travel agencies here," she said.

The ustazah said the woman assured her that everything was according to plan after she deposited the money until few days before the departure date.

"She informed me that the flight on Dec 5 was unavailable and had to be rescheduled.

"I had a rude shock upon learning that she did not purchase the tickets as promised and kept on postponing the departure date for several times," she said.

After the victims highlighted the matter to Cake, she said the woman contacted her yesterday telling her that the flight tickets will be settled by today.

However, the ustazah said until this evening, the woman still failed to fulfill her promise.

"I had a discussion with the pilgrims in the presence of Cake officials and they have all agreed to pull out from the trip and are seeking for full refund," she said.

The ustazah has lodged a police report on the matter to clear her name from being linked to the scam.

"All I wanted to do was to make the umrah trip as comfortable as possible, especially for the elderly, and I never imagined it would ended up like this.

"My integrity and reputation is at stake. I want the woman to refund the money as soon as possible.

"Please stop playing tricks as these people are going to the Holy land to perform a religious duty and I hope she will repent for the pain she has caused to the 25 victims and me," she said with teary eyes.

Che Noorma said she and Dzulkifli were satisfied with the ustazah's explanation.

"We are not blaming the ustazah as she had done everything accordingly and the others also share the same sentiment," she said.

She thanked Cake for guiding them in seeking justice and to get back their money.

Meanwhile, Yusrizal said Cake had referred the case to the police, Immigration Department and the Tourism and Culture Ministry.

"We are satisfied with the explanation given by the ustazah and it seems that she is also a victim in this case.

"Our own checks revealed that the woman does not belong to any travel agency in Mecca but is merely operating as an individual broker," he said.

Yusrizal said Cake was seeking help from the authorities concerned to recover the victims' money from the woman.

Source: http://malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/29-4-tile/713764-25-umrah-pilgrims-fall-prey-to-scam-seek-full-refund.html