Woman charged for RM3.99m umrah scam (Updated)

SHAH ALAM: A 32-year-old woman was charged at the Shah Alam Sessions Court today for cheating a local travel agency and its customers out of RM3.99 million in an umrah (minor pilgrimage) package scam.
Noraini Abu Bakar was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
If found guilty, she faces a jail term of a minimum of one year and maximum of 10 years with whipping and shall also be liable to a fine.
In revealing this at a press conference today, Selangor police chief Commissioner Datuk Mazlan Mansor said the accused who claimed to be a "Datuk" and managed a tour agency had got in touch with the victims to manage umrah packages last November.
"She acted as the middleman between the travel agency and its customers. She collected the money from the customers and arranged with the travel agency to book three full flights with the agency making the payments first. All this took place in December last year," he told reporters at the Selangor police headquarters here today.
Police believe she has been active for at least two years and has no known accomplices.
Investigations also revealed her tour company was registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia but did not have the necessary tour agency licence from the Tourism Ministry.
Following a tip-off, a police team from the Selangor Commercial Crime Investigations Department managed to locate the woman at an apartment in Nilai, Negri Sembilan on July 25.
During the raid, police also seized several belongings such as jewellery, luxury handbags and RM38,200.