How many times you have fallen prey to con artists?
What if someday you went to some designer brand to shop the best outfit and only to find out it was bought from a local thrift store and put a tag on it?
Snakes are Demanding
Things people for scamming can cause someone to loses their life earnings. Especially when it comes to travelling and going on expeditions for the first time can easily be smelled by defrauding figures and you can become their bait for the extraterritorial cash.
Unfortunately, many people are conned by defrauding companies, easily playing with their money and well emotions make them stronger, but it’s them who needs to be ashamed of such heinous acts.
It’s a Call for Protection
When it comes to travelling for Umrah or Hajj Journey, as unpredictable behavior patterns of travel agencies can often seem confusing.
You never seem to know when prices of Umrah packages gets high and vice versa. No prior contact is made with the designated customer and things may take a turn for worse when you find out, you have been heavily scammed by a company that doesn’t exist.
There are several ways you can protect yourself from a defraud company or agent. Some useful tips are always handy to use.
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Do Your Research
The world has become technological so why use century-old methods to find information about travel agencies?
The best approach is to do a primary investigation (no, you do not need to be Sherlock Holmes for this), simply google the company and you can tap into the details of the company like when it was established, its reviews and so on.
Try looking into companies you have heard from a familiar person. Word of mouth these days is more out of firsthand experience rather than being only information based with no background.
If the travel agency is legit and had dealings before, you can get the desired information from various platforms as well.
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Check the Travel Agent
Sometimes the travel agencies providing Umrah packages may be legit but the travel agent in question is not the person you are looking for.
The most common type of con artists plays the role of being travel agents to an agency in particular and defame the travel agency in the process, harming the reputation as well as taking the hard-earned money from the customer.
Never deposit your money to an unknown account except for when its company’s account. Even then be careful in deciding which travel agency to choose.
Do look for those travel agents that had been credited by the Saudi Embassy, to get a better hold of correct and up to date information.
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Is it a Member of ABTA?
There are certain regulations and policies that every travel agency has to follow, doesn’t matter the type of journey you are on, the registered agent will have its name, system and required credentials online on the main database.
To never get deceived by the travel agency you can go through the basic standards (or guidelines) only if you are an ABTA member, hence protected by the code. There are a series of code of conduct that is to be followed by every dignitary.
Therefore, it’s the simplest and most trusted way to know about the legitimacy of a travel agency.
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ATOL Protection
Just like ABTA, ATOL (Air Travel Organizer’s Licensing) therefore is a protection scheme spun for the benefit of UK based travellers.
It ensures that traveller doesn’t lose any of their money if the travel agency goes bankrupt for any reason, in particular, it’s a money safe guarantee.
This policy is applicable even if during your journey company somehow is unable to reside by their conducting business or for some reason has to drop you, you can have the white card (figuratively) to use for protection in abroad, and foreign government bodies assure your safe arrival and money-back guarantee as well (if you have to come halfway back from your journey or never got to travel in the first place).
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Written Proof
When arranging the documents, you have to make sure you get every information correct on the pages, not only at your end but also a travel agency’s end.
Written errors can omit any important piece of information that can perfectly ruin your journey to Umrah (and this is in case of any unintentional error is made).
But what about a defrauding agency?
Keeping a proper trail for legit documents is not their style.
Starting from the receipts and the payments, keep a copy of everything you have. As every transaction is being transferred online, you can track the bills and payments. If you see any sudden demand in transactions not priorly discussed or arranged, then it should ring an alarming bell.
FRAUD!!!
Travel agencies tend to buy tickets, as part of the all-inclusive Umrah package, accommodation is confirmed with the proper address. Google maps are a convenient source to look into the information. Keep a proper check of everything from start till end.
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Paying the Transactions
Modern times calls for online transactions. Online banking has made dealing in transactions a lot easier with time. Each year supplicate ways of transactions are introduced. Instead of keeping cash with you all the time, using a debit card payment is sufficient enough.
Any legit travel agency will accept the debit card at hand instead of getting every transaction separately at intervals. If they do it, something fishy is going on.
Keep this thing in mind that travel agency shares all details with the receipts at both ends. In any case of confusion, you can contact the customer representative team for any query but a fake agency will spin stories.
Keep Your Senses Sharp!
It’s easy to become a victim of such debauchery. Going online has made lives easier in many aspects, but on the other hand, it has its downside as well.
Before planning make sure it’s safe and sound means of travelling and well you are good to go.
