ALOR STAR: Twelve people lodged a police report against an 'ustazah' today, after they failed to get a refund from her following a failed umrah trip last month.
The report was lodged at the Kota Setar police headquarters, urging police to arrest the woman for cheating.
One of the victims, Ismail Hashim, 55, said he and his wife Siti Hawa Kassim, 54, hoped police would take action against the woman, who claimed to be from Shah Alam.
He said she promised to refund RM13,800 paid to her through a woman who coordinated the trip.
"I am just a paddy farmer. It took me years to save the money to fulfil a dream to take my wife for umrah.
"We are fed up with the woman as she kept on delaying to refund the money," he said.
Ismail said initially, all the 25 victims of the same umrah package decided to give the woman a chance as she promised to pay them back.
However, since she had not done so even after returning from Saudi Arabia early this month, they decided to take action. against her.
Another victim, Siti Fatimah Othman, 68, from Perlis said she could not understand why anyone would duped them.
She said she had used up all her savings to pay RM7,100 umrah trip.
Fatimah said she was supposed to go with a relative but their hope was dashed when the woman did not make the necessary arrangement for the trip despite already taking their money.
Meanwhile, Kedah Consumer Association (Cake) secretary Mohd Yusrizal Yusoff urged police to investigate the matter and ensured that the victims got back their hard-earned money.
"The woman did sent me an email this morning promising to return all the RM178,600 to the victims by next month.
"However, since she had broken her promises before, the victims were doubtful that she will honour her words." he said.
Yusrizal said the remaining 13 victims are expected to lodge a report on Sunday.
Last month, the New Straits Times reported that the 25 victims had sought help from Cake after failing to depart to the Holy Land to perform umrah.
Translated from Harian Metro