So ... not really cigar-related, but ...
A local coffee roaster has a delivery service. One orders online, pays via PP, they roast Wednesday/Thursday, with free delivery to your door Friday.
'Local' here means Ottawa in Canada. The PP site is the so-called 'Canadian' PP site - and follows Canadian financial rules.
Now, the PP order is for a 1/2 lb or 1 lb of beans. You put in PP's notes which coffee you want. So far, so good.
I put in an order. I also added a new c.c. to PP at the same time and used it to pay for the order. I got a PP message that the order had been put on hold due to fraud, etc. Annoying, but vaguely reasonable. PP said that it would be 24-48 hours to clear this up. Okay, fine.
A week later PP told me that they (PP, not the roaster) had cancelled the order and refunded my c.c.
WtF? I then immediately put in another order - same vendor, same beans, same PP, same CC - and everything went well. I am drinking a cup of that coffee right now.
A week after that I got a message from PP:
Yup, I ordered ISOM beans. I said C*** in the notes, PP scanned for C***, and PP automatically zapped me. (The second time I coincidentally didn't say C*** in the notes - I just put something like "second try.")Quote:
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system.
PayPal is committed to complying with and meeting its global regulatory obligations. One obligation is to ensure that our customers, merchants, and partners are also in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including those set forth by OFAC, in their use of PayPal.
PayPal's Compliance Department has reviewed your account and identified activity that is in violation of United States regulations administered by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Please consult the following website for further information regarding OFAC regulations: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-cen...s/default.aspx
OFAC rules currently prohibit the purchase or sale of various goods and services originating from C***.
In addition, OFAC also prohibits the purchase or sale of goods and services by those individuals designated as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs).
It has come to our attention that you initiated a payment for the purchase of an item or items originating from C*** that is currently prohibited by OFAC rules (please refer to payment ... attempted on ... ).
Any further violations will result in the closure of your account. As a result of the violation, details of your account and the transaction have been reported to OFAC.
I always thought it was a tad excessive that people used the acronym ISOM. Now I know better. I suspect that the odds of my car being searched the next time that I go to the US have just skyrocketed :smiley18:.
