Buying Stuff online...

Ever since I've been using the internet for as long as I remember, I've been buying stuff online. I rarely ran into trouble like frauds, people stealing my credit card info etc... Even with the little problems, I've always been able to resolve the issue. It didn't matter where I was in the world, either, the UAE, USA, Malaysia or Syria, everything was smooth until today.

In Sept 1st I ordered some stuff from Aimcraft everything seemed fine and everything... Then I get this email from Aimcraft telling me that my order is on hold. I'm thinking, why is that? I made sure there's nothing wrong with the credit card and everything. I tried to figure it all out and just today, I got the email telling that the order was canceled and the reason why it was cancelled from the online distribution center that allows the buyers to use credit card to buy from online establishment. This is what it says:

Message by cduncan on Fri, 8th Sep 2006 11:46 am
Greetings,

Thank you for contacting 2Checkout.com. I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. According to our records, this order was canceled because of our OFAC regulations. This order will not be reinstated. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know.

I was like, what is this OFAC? This is what I came up with:

The Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, and those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. OFAC acts under Presidential wartime and national emergency powers, as well as authority granted by specific legislation, to impose controls on transactions and freeze foreign assets under US jurisdiction. Many of the sanctions are based on United Nations and other international mandates, are multilateral in scope, and involve close cooperation with allied governments.

This is stupid... Just because I placed the order when I was in Syria, they refused it. Yes, I tell you, it's a real security threat to the US or anywhere in the world to buy skirts from India to be sent to the UAE?!?! Doesn't make sense to me but then again neither does the US foreign policy all together.

Anyways, now that I'm in the UAE, I've used a different credit card to reorder... Till now I've heard nothing, so I'm hoping that it'll work out... I believe there is good relations between the UAE and the US. I don't think I'll have the problem now. Let's see how it'll work though in these coming days.