Crackdown on fraudsters ripping off Muslim pilgrims
Consumer watchdogs in Birmingham are spearheading a nationwide probe in a bid to stop fraudsters ripping off Muslim pilgrims.
The city council has clinched £100,000 funding from the National Trading Standards Board to set up a taskforce to tackle crooks conning people booking religious Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia.
Birmingham Trading Standards is now working with officers from 15 other local authorities across the country – and has already scored success after seizing £400,000 and arresting two men in a sting in east London.