Before you pay a Moroccan Umrah agency: a method, not a ranking
Check a Moroccan Umrah agency before you pay: method, contract, recourse. No rankings.
What do the words on a Moroccan agency's paperwork mean?
Five terms come up as soon as you start checking. Each definition below is taken from an official or press source, linked at the bottom of the page.
The licence types in more detail, and what the directory can and cannot tell you: ODV and DV licences explained.
How do you check your parents' agency when you live abroad?
You do not need to be in Morocco. You need the agency's exact name, the official directory and a phone that takes photos.
Tick off
- Ask your parents for the agency's name exactly as printed on its documents, and the company name if it differs.
- Search both names in the ministry's travel-agency directory, which lists the ODV and DV agencies licensed under Law 11-161.
- Ask for a photo of the shopfront and of the first page of the contract, and compare both names with the directory.
- Read the contract together on a call before anyone signs: hotel, transport, insurance, and what happens if the trip is cancelled.
- Make sure every payment goes to the agency itself, and ask your parents to photograph each dated, signed receipt and send it to you.
The full remote method, including what to do when the names do not match: checking your parents' Umrah agency from abroad. The same checks for any reader, step by step: how to check a Moroccan Umrah agency's licence.
Why check before paying?
Because published cases show how far a missing licence can go. According to H24info, a Marrakech agency left pilgrims stranded in Turkey: it was operating without authorisation, having failed to renew its licence, and was therefore not on the official list5.
On 12 February 2026, the Moroccan Consumer Protection Observatory issued a national alert urging people to check an agency's legal status before paying for an Umrah6. This site turns that advice into steps a family can follow, wherever its members live.
What is in the fraud log?
One row per case reported by a recognised news outlet, or per official alert: when, what the source reported, the exact status and the source. No agency or person is ever named, and an arrest stays an arrest, not a conviction.
| When | What the source reported | Status |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | According to Hespress, the manager of a Marrakech agency was arrested in February 2026, suspected of collecting about 3.8 million dirhams for Umrah trips that never took place6 | Arrest, not a conviction |
| July 2024 | On 3 July 2024, TelQuel reported 3 arrests in Marrakech and Fez over pilgrimage-visa fraud7 | Arrests, not convictions |
| March 2024 | According to a Le360 press review (March 2024), dozens of people in Salé said an agency had defrauded them shortly after registrations opened8 | Accounts reported by the press |
| May 2022 | In May 2022, after complaints about the Ramadan 2022 Umrah, the Ministry of Tourism ordered 2 permanent licence withdrawals, 2 provisional 3-month withdrawals and 7 warnings9 | Administrative sanctions |
Every row, with its source and update date: the Morocco Umrah fraud log. The patterns behind these cases: Umrah scams in Morocco, warning signs from published cases.
Where is each part of the method?
- Check the licence: the step-by-step licence check, and what ODV and DV mean.
- Check from abroad: a remote method for sons and daughters.
- Know the warning signs: scam patterns from published cases, the sourced fraud log, and what the Saudi suspension of foreign Umrah agencies means for you.
- If something goes wrong: your complaint options, in order.
What will you not find here?
- A ranking, a top ten or a “best agency”: we give a method, not a verdict.
- The name of an agency involved in a case: we describe the pattern and say who reported it.
- Trip prices or offers to compare.
- Answers on the rites of Umrah: for any religious question, ask an imam or a scholar you trust.
Check us too
Still unclear
- Whether the official directory can be searched in English: the directory page we link to is the French one, and we have not checked whether an English version exists.
- Whether someone living abroad can file a complaint for a parent without going to Morocco: we have no official source on this yet, so we do not give an answer.
- How the cases in the fraud log ended in court: an investigation or an arrest says nothing about the verdict.
Sources cited
- mtaess.gov.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- mtaess.gov.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- adala.justice.gov.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- fr.hespress.com, accessed 20 October 2026
- h24info.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- fr.hespress.com, accessed 20 October 2026
- telquel.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- fr.le360.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- telquel.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- fr.le360.ma, accessed 20 October 2026
- medias24.com, accessed 20 October 2026
Sources consulted on 20 October 2026.
The method, step by step
- How to check a Moroccan Umrah agency's licence
A licence check you can run yourself, from Morocco or abroad: the ministry directory, the licence type, the same name on every document, and who receives the money.
- ODV and DV: what Morocco's travel agency licences mean
Definitions you can quote: the two licence types, the law and decree that created them, what changed from the previous law, and which office grants and withdraws a licence.
- Umrah scams in Morocco: warning signs from published cases
The warning signs that recur in Umrah fraud cases reported by Moroccan and Saudi sources, the check that answers each one, and what to do if money has already been paid.
- Morocco Umrah fraud log: published cases and official alerts
One dated row per published Umrah fraud case or official alert affecting Moroccan pilgrims, with its stage and source. No agency or person is named.
- Checking your parents' Umrah agency in Morocco from abroad
For the son or daughter in Europe, the Gulf or North America: a calm, remote routine to check the agency your parents chose, without taking the decision away from them.
- Complaint against a Moroccan travel agency: your options
The recourse ladder after a problem with a Moroccan travel agency, in the order to climb it, with the evidence to keep and what each step can and cannot do.
- Saudi suspension of foreign Umrah agencies: what to check
The Saudi suspension of foreign Umrah agencies explained for families booking in Morocco, with the questions to put to your agency in writing.
Who publishes this site?
This site is published by Wiki Tours International, a travel agency in Casablanca. We do not rank agencies, and you can check us with the same method.
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