Pak American arrested for defrauding Hajj pilgrims

December 19, 2014 00:26

A Pakistani American national has been arrested in Chicago on charges of defrauding Hajj pilgrims, the US Justice Department said today.

Rashid Minhas, 42, a resident of Chicago, is scheduled to be produced before a city court later in the day.

Chicago-based travel agent Minhas has been accused of federal fraud for allegedly cheating at least 50 customers of approximately USD 525,000 by misrepresenting his ability to sell travel packages for the Hajj pilgrimage that included visas required to enter Saudi Arabia.

Quite a substantial amount of this money was sent to Pakistan, federal authorities said.

According to the complaint affidavit, between March and November 2014, Minhas falsely represented that Hajj travel packages for September and October of this year required Saudi Arabia entry visas.

Minhas allegedly knew that Light Star Hajj travel agency was not authorised by Saudi Arabia to obtain visas and that he did not intend to obtain the required Hajj visas.

He sold travel deals to at least 50 customers and deposited approximately $525,000 he collected into Light Star's bank accounts, and then commingled those funds with other deposits and used the money to make partial refunds to customers, to transfer funds to Pakistan, and to pay personal expenses, the complaint alleges.

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