Despite warming, several thousand Muslims wishing to have gone to Mecca from France to perform the holy Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj, have been misled by travel agencies and deceiving intermediaries. Nana Zakaria, founder of SOS-Pilgrims, an association that tried to alert travelers about scams related to Hajj, cites approximately 3500 people who have been unable to leave this year. Among the scams that Zakaria cites include the operations that deal fake visas and paperwork to enter Saudi Arabia.
