Exactly what went wrong with the purported pilgrimage to Mecca for 380 pilgrims stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport recently will only be known after investigators have pieced together the full story.

Although many reports labelled it a scam, it was not a typical one where scammers disappeared with the money. 5 suspects comprising a tour company owner, his wife, an agent, and 2 employees at the agency have been remanded for questioning.

A total of 4,683 travel agencies and tour companies are currently registered with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. Only 702 are listed under “Senarai Syarikat Yang Mempunyai Lesen Perniagaan Pengendalian Pelancongan Luar Negeri Bagi Umrah Atau Ziarah”.

Those not licensed to operate umrah and pilgrimage are not permitted to organise trips to Mecca, but their travel agency licence allows them to be sales agents for licensed companies that organise tours and other service providers such as airlines and hotels.

As imams wield considerable influence over their congregation, they have often been approached by those offering umrah tours, which can be performed anytime during the year except for the 6 weeks following the conclusion of the 10-day haj season.

In 2019, over 300,000 Malaysian pilgrims went to Saudi Arabia, but the number of scams were relatively small. These mostly happened when individuals trusted by imams disappeared with payments made by pilgrims.

The latest case may be different. There is a possibility that the tour company was swindled by a clever fraudster who convinced it that “furada” (private) visas could be obtained and a large aircraft chartered to ferry 380 passengers to and from Jeddah.

It was reported that a month earlier, the agents involved had held extravagant haj preparation courses at some expensive hotels. Were they exercises to collect the balance of payment? Without evidence of the furada visa and flight tickets, alarm bells should have rung.

In any case, even if tour operators or travel agents have been conned, they are still legally liable even if not charged for criminal offence. Victims are likely to sue them if insufficient or no refunds are given.

Under “Tour Operating Business and Travel Agency Business” regulations, travel and tour companies are not permitted to deal with illegitimate businesses. The onus is for them to verify the validity of services offered by other tour companies or wholesalers.

The public should always deal directly with trusted tour companies that charge reasonably for their services.

To do otherwise is to invite trouble.

Some scammer will win you over with cheap prices and satisfactory services initially, but will strike upon receiving a much larger payment.  

* YS Chan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.