Askoi denied Umrah services after receiving payment yet again

Askoi Travel Services Pvt Ltd was penalized in May for taking a sizeable payment from people that wanted to go to Umrah and then failed on their end in doing their job. The tour company has repeated the act once more, with the Islamic Ministry directly looking into the matter.

Islamic Minister Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has stated on X that the Ministry received information that Askoi had received the required payment from people for their Umrah services, only to not depart on the day of, effectively denying their services and swindling people out of their money.

"We will take this issue to the Police and follow the necessary steps," stated Shaheem.

Askoi Travel Services Pvt Ltd received the necessary approval from the Islamic Ministry to conduct such travel services in 2023.

An individual who was swindled by Askoi made a post on Facebook stating that they were in high spirits due to them getting the opportunity to go on the religious and spiritual journey of Umrah, only to be told that the trip would not happen a week prior to take-off.

They were to depart on 24th July 2025.

As per the post, 28 people from Sh. Foakaidhoo were set to go on the journey. Each individual had paid the travel agency MVR 25,500 this February.

The post further stated that they had contacted Askoi three days ago in order to verify their travel to Male' before 24th July after readying themselves for the Umrah trip.

Askoi informed the 28 people yesterday that the trip to Umrah would not be happening, even after the individuals had readied all documents and flight tickets.

"When we texted them, they didn't reply. When we called them, they didn't pick up. They then turned off their phones, then told us that we would not be going. No word from them afterwards whatsoever," as per the Facebook post.

The Islamic Ministry had penalized Askoi on May when they swindled six people out of their money. The six people had planned on going to Umrah during the last 15 days of Ramadan, including six days of Shawwal. They had started paying the required fees from October 2024, with the full payment being made on 24th January 2025.

The travel agency had charged each individual MVR 42,000, totaling MVR 252,000. The agency told them that the trip had been cancelled due to some unforeseen circumstances 10 days before the flight. The six people had already made their arrangements to go to Male' by then.

The Islamic Ministry fined Askoi MVR 130,000 to be paid within 30 days, with the addition of refunding the affected parties as well.