Intending to Perform Badal Umrah for Mother, Deviana Falls Victim to Hanania Travel Scam: 'I Am Exhausted'

Recently, the public has been stirred by numerous prospective Umrah pilgrims protesting at the Hanania Group office after falling victim to fraud. PT Khazanable Tamma Internasional, the company managing Hanania Group, has been reported to the Jakarta Metropolitan Regional Police (Polda Metro Jaya) for alleged fraud and embezzlement of Umrah funds. Following these events, the President Director of Hanania Group travel agency, Ahmad Syah Farhan (ASF), has been officially detained and named a suspect by the police.

One of the victims of this case is Deviana, a woman from Bandung, who shared her grievances after being defrauded by the travel agency. After saving for a long time to perform the Umrah pilgrimage, her funds have vanished. Appearing on the YouTube programme ‘CURHAT BANG Denny Sumargo’, Deviana expressed that she has reached a point of extreme exhaustion. She lamented that instead of reaping the rewards of her hard work to perform the pilgrimage, she has become a victim of fraud and must now monitor the legal case until its conclusion.

“That is why I am at a point of exhaustion; I have tried to reflect on it, but we are only human. Perhaps Allah has prepared something more beautiful than this,” Deviana stated during the YouTube broadcast. She added that while Muslims believe Allah answers prayers anywhere, the dream of every Muslim is to be in Mecca, and her specific intention was to perform ‘Badal Umrah’ (performing Umrah on behalf of someone else) for her late mother.

Deviana intended to perform the Badal Umrah for her mother, who had passed away, as an act of atonement for her past regrets. She expressed deep remorse for not being present when her mother died, as she was prevented from returning by her ex-husband. “My first child was only ten days old at the time. When I wanted to return, there was a dark story involving my ex-husband; he threatened that if I returned, he would divorce me,” she explained.

“Now that I am able to stand on my own, I want to perform the ritual for my parent, as I was not there during her final moments and did not even know when she was buried. Imagine, in 2005, mobile phones were not advanced and there was no video calling; I only heard that she had been buried,” she continued, unable to hold back her tears.