Egyptian minister to look into ‘cheating’ complaints

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 11: Egyptian Minister of Immigration & Minister of Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, Nabila Makram is looking into a complaint filed by Egyptians abroad with the Egyptian Attorney General, Counselor, Hamada Al-Sawy, reports Al-Qabas daily. The daily added, about 300 Egyptians say they were cheated by two people who said they will help them (the Egyptians) to return to Kuwait via the United Arab Emirates after spending the 14-day quarantine period and because of the COVID-19.

According to the complaints, the owner of a touristic company, identified only as MA, and a woman identified only as DM, deluded the Egyptians via a satellite TV channel and social media with offers to help them return back to their jobs in Kuwait.

The offer included flight reservations, PCR tests and 14-day quarantine period in the UAE. The Egyptians complain they paid the suspects between 17,000 and 20,000 Egyptian pounds to return to Kuwait. The victims say the money was paid with full knowledge of DM whether by bank transfers, cash and through one of the well-known e-payment applications and that all the payments were officially acknowledged by the suspects.

The complainants also stated that on the day of travel, the aforementioned company issued air tickets from Egypt to the UAE and for onward journey to Kuwait. After the Egyptians lodged in the UAE hotels and after the specified number of days they discovered the air tickets to Kuwait were a fake.

The Egyptians contacted the company and asked to solve the problem and provide approved airline tickets, but they were surprised on Tuesday, October 6, that the hotel was asking them to vacate, because the accommodation bill was not paid in full by the company.

After that, it became clear that the company had shut down its business and laid off the employees and the owner of the company stated that he is not responsible and that everyone bears responsibility for himself. As a result, the Egyptian Minister of Immigration received messages from these citizens that they did not have enough money to return to Kuwait or even return to Egypt, nor to stay in the hotel, and that they had been deluded and defrauded by the company.

In this context, Makram started communications with the Attorney General, and Egyptian consulates in the UAE and Kuwait to follow up the situation of these citizens until the problem is solved. The minister concluded the statement by stressing that travelers to Kuwait must check fl ight reservation documents for the entire trip and the hotel.