UK launches crackdown on bogus Hajj travel packages

City of London Police are distributing Hajj fraud prevention leaflets in residential areas and local mosques.

The United Kingdom has launched a campaign to protect British Muslims from fraudsters selling bogus travel packages to Makkah this September to perform Hajj, the City of London Police posted on their website.

The City of London Police are speaking to Muslim community leaders across Britain and distributing Hajj fraud prevention leaflets in residential areas and local mosques.

The campaign is being supported by the Council of British Hajjis, Get Safe Online, ABTA, ATOL and Trading Standards who will all be raising awareness via social media.

Every year, about 25,000 British Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, spending around £125 million on their pilgrimages. Many pilgrims purchase these tour packages, however, upon arriving in Saudi Arabia discover that their accommodation is of extreme low quality, or doesn’t even exist in some cases. For others, the whole trip is a scam set up by illegal travel operators.

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Last year 87 people reported to Action Fraud that they had fallen victim to Hajj fraud, with the total losses running to £237,995. But the Council of British Hajjis and the City of London Police believe the true scale of this criminality is much greater, with many people feeling too ashamed to report to authorities what has happened to them.

A travel agent from South London, lost £10,000 to Hajj fraudsters in 2013 when he purchased travel packages on behalf of some customers.

“I run a travel business and pride myself on finding good deals for customers. On this occasion I had been asked by five people to find them a Hajj travel package,” he said.

“The initial deal I found fell through which meant I had to go with suppliers that I hadn’t used before. I sent them £10,000 to pay for all the bookings, which included flights, accommodation, food and visas. However, none of tickets came through and I later found out that the visas hadn’t even been applied for.”

The travel agent further said he spoke to suppliers but they made excuses for not providing tickets and said they would send a refund, which they never did.

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“I have lost a significant amount of money due to these fraudsters which severely affected my business. It still makes me angry to think about this and I’m also aware that there are people around the country, who fall victim to this type of fraud and end up not being able to go to Makkah as a result, which is absolutely terrible”.

Earlier in April, the City of London Police worked with regional fraud teams and Birmingham Trading Standards to crack down on suspected Hajj fraud. The officers visited a business premise in Ashton under Lyne in Greater Manchester and arrested three people on suspicion of fraud by false representation.

City of London Police Commander Steve Head, who is the Police National Coordinator for Economic Crime and is leading the national Hajj fraud campaign, said: “This is the third consecutive year we have run a Hajj fraud campaign reflecting our commitment and determination to raise awareness of this type of fraud in Muslim communities across the UK.”

Head said June and July is the most common time of the year for Muslims to book their Hajj trips and search for possible travel deals. “This is why we are running the campaign at this point in the year.”

“We will be working with police forces with large Muslim populations as well as Muslim groups to ensure that this message reaches the right people and helps them to protect themselves from these ruthless criminals,” the City of London police commander said.