Abdullah Al-Jamili

Al-Madina

 

A RECENT official announcement warned citizens and expatriates against fake Haj campaigns. This is an annual exercise but it has never stopped pilgrims from falling prey to these bogus companies.



The fraud against domestic pilgrims is continuing. Some so-called Haj campaigns do not exist in the first place. Some crooks claiming to run affordable Haj campaigns will take the money the pilgrim pays in advance and disappear into thin air.



Another method of embezzling domestic pilgrims is that the campaign owner breaches the contracts signed with his clients. It will later turn out that he does not have good tents in the Holy Sites or comfortable means of transport.



The complaints of local pilgrims against these fake Haj campaigns are numerous. The reasons and justifications for the existence of such campaigns are still there.



Among others, they include the high prices of the large official campaigns. You will probably not believe that online registration for the low-cost Haj campaigns closed only 10 minutes after opening. This was because of the large number of the pilgrims wishing to register and the little number of seats available for them.



There are no proper means of communications through which the pilgrim may distinguish the real campaign from the fake one. Moreover most of the pilgrims are not aware of their rights when they register with a Haj campaign.



I have no doubt that fake Haj campaigns thrive because there will be no stiff punishment awaiting them. If there are any, they will be too light and not deterring.



Rescuing pilgrims from the fake campaigns is not a difficult task. It requires seriousness in pressuring the official Haj campaigns to lower their charges to make them affordable.



The authorities should initiate special websites and free toll telephones for people to inform them about the fake campaigns. The crooks should be named and shamed.



Lastly, I was not surprised to know that some citizens in the northern areas, especially Al-Jouf, prefer to register with Haj and Umrah campaigns from Jordan because their charges are reasonable compared to our domestic companies.



This is what the residents of the border areas do. What will the residents of the central and western regions do? May Allah help them.