On violating international trade law[.md]
It was just like any other Thursday afternoon... well, except that I had accidentally violated U.S. foreign trade sanctions and, in so doing, may have inadvertently sponsored terrorism.
Whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
I was on my lunch break playing a game of ping pong with some colleagues when my bank called. The lady on the other end asked me if I remembered making a certain bank transfer in the amount of ~$50. I said I did, and then she informed me that, due to some sort of federal restriction, my bank account would need to be frozen for a few days while the feds investigated.
What had I done wrong? Well, it turns out there was an issue with an item I had bought online a day or two earlier, or rather, there was an issue with where I bought the item from. It wasn't anything crazy, I was just trying to purchase a vintage Rubik's Cube manufactured in the Soviet Union, which you could say is something of a hobby of mine (an obsession might be more accurate).
The problem with this particular transaction was that the seller was located in Southern Serbia. Southern Serbia, as I soon found out, was one of several regions named in an executive order issued in 2001, by then U.S. President George W. Bush, that was apparently aimed at curbing extremist violence in the Western Balkans.[1] This means that, among other things, it would not be a very bright idea to wire money to the country, and what I’d done could very easily be misconstrued as sponsoring terrorism.
I wish I could tell you I got pulled into an FBI office for questioning or something else equally dramatic, but after a few days the hold on my bank account was lifted and the money transfer was canceled. By the time this all shook out, the seller had already mailed the puzzle, and so I was never able to compensate him.
This was right at the end of the month too, so I ended up having to call my landlord to explain the situation and let him know my rent might be a bit late that month.
The puzzle arrived at my door a few weeks later.
Comments