Tehran Airport Scenery Purchase blocked by PayPal

[ideoplastic 86]

I have now tried twice to buy ARMI PROJECT - TEHRAN IMAM KHOMEINI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OIIE P3D for P3Dv4 via Simmarket but the payment has been withheld by PayPal twice. It seems that PayPal are blocking payment simply because of the purchase title. On both occasions it was being bought with other sceneries  and after cancelling the Simmarket Orders and creating new orders for the other sceneries  PayPal paid immediately. I'm posting this here to warn any other simmers thinking of buying the scenery via PayPal, because they will take your money, put your order in pending then cancel it several days later without any explanation and return your money some days later. So avoid the grief. It is a sad day when real world politics begin to interfere in our hobby. Ironic that a scenery created for use in US made Flight Simulators is banned by a widely used company like PayPal. Roger and out.

[Rocky_53 1,566]

33 minutes ago, ideoplastic said:

I have now tried twice to buy ARMI PROJECT - TEHRAN IMAM KHOMEINI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OIIE P3D for P3Dv4 via Simmarket but the payment has been withheld by PayPal twice. It seems that PayPal are blocking payment simply because of the purchase title. On both occasions it was being bought with other sceneries  and after cancelling the Simmarket Orders and creating new orders for the other sceneries  PayPal paid immediately. I'm posting this here to warn any other simmers thinking of buying the scenery via PayPal, because they will take your money, put your order in pending then cancel it several days later without any explanation and return your money some days later. So avoid the grief. It is a sad day when real world politics begin to interfere in our hobby. Ironic that a scenery created for use in US made Flight Simulators is banned by a widely used company like PayPal. Roger and out.

There are a lot of security practices being implemented in the most obscure of places. However, I'm sure they are for a good reason. I have just recently returned from a holiday in Corfu and I thought I'd pop onto Google Earth to check out the airport. It seems the entire area, plus other areas of security, have been pixelated out! The same appears to have happened at all Greek airports. On researching Google, it seems there was a request by the Greek authorities, to Google, to undertake this action. However, they have been unsuccessful with Microsoft as the Bing maps clearly show the same airports without any kind of pixelation. 

[Benjamin J 751]

I bought it with my credit card directly, not using Paypal. Worked fine. Have you tried not going through Paypal?

[ideoplastic 86]

I use PayPal quite a lot and normally don't have any issues, except for this particular one. I've already bought the scenery with a Credit Card. Just wanted to make others aware so they don't go through all the hassle I went through.

 

 

[edpatino 1,960]

51 minutes ago, ideoplastic said:

I have now tried twice to buy ARMI PROJECT - TEHRAN IMAM KHOMEINI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OIIE P3D for P3Dv4 via Simmarket but the payment has been withheld by PayPal twice. It seems that PayPal are blocking payment simply because of the purchase title. On both occasions it was being bought with other sceneries  and after cancelling the Simmarket Orders and creating new orders for the other sceneries  PayPal paid immediately. I'm posting this here to warn any other simmers thinking of buying the scenery via PayPal, because they will take your money, put your order in pending then cancel it several days later without any explanation and return your money some days later. So avoid the grief. It is a sad day when real world politics begin to interfere in our hobby. Ironic that a scenery created for use in US made Flight Simulators is banned by a widely used company like PayPal. Roger and out.

That's really funny!. The culprit of an embargo.

Cheers, Ed

[ideoplastic 86]

15 minutes ago, edpatino said:

That's really funny!. The culprit of an embargo.

Cheers, Ed

You have to laugh...!!

[blackopscc1 14]

Due to the reimposition of Sanctions on Iran, it is generally forbidden for US entities (and persons) to directly transact business with Iranian entities (and persons). While your transaction (buying a scenery for P3D) may be considered acceptable for now, PayPal in this case would be acting as a clearing house and exchanging funds directly with an Iranian bank - and probably in USD creating a “nexus” with US commerce, most definitely prohibited activity. That your credit card worked is not surprising - PayPal’s compliance folks are known to be very conservative ..... there was just a case involving JP Morgan Chase for the exact type of activity I just described and they’re going to be on the hook for a hefty fine by the OFAC. I am an airline compliance guy in my day to day life, and the renewal of these sanctions is creating a real headache for us. 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

27 minutes ago, edpatino said:

That's really funny!. The culprit of an embargo.

Cheers, Ed

Unfortunately, we are probably going to see more of this in the software arena. It wasn't that long ago that the US Government banned the use of Kaspersky Antivirus by US agencies and contractors, stating that it was as security risk because of its country of origin:

https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2018/07/governments-kaspersky-ban-takes-effect/149758/

Certain Chinese cell phone manufacturers have been targetted by the US. I'm somewhat surprised that DCS hasn't run afoul of various US aerospace companies, not only because of intellectual property issues, but also because of the detailed and accurate flight models that are used for simulating US combat aircraft.

All I can say is, enjoy everything will it lasts.

Edited October 24, 2018 by jabloomf1230

[BlueStar 323]

I'm not sure what the problem is with Pay Pal, but I do not believe that it has anything to do with sanctions or anything like that. I had a similar issue when buying KIAH (George Bush International) from FSDT.  My other purchases with FSDT were fine. The last I checked Houston is not under sanctions or an embargo. 🙂

Grace and Peace, 

Edited October 24, 2018 by Bluestar

[Benjamin J 751]

3 hours ago, ideoplastic said:

I use PayPal quite a lot and normally don't have any issues, except for this particular one. I've already bought the scenery with a Credit Card. Just wanted to make others aware so they don't go through all the hassle I went through.

Ah okay, yes I've heard of other people with similar issues trying to be this scenery through Paypal... Then again... Might have been you posting those messages...

[blackopscc1 14]

If the entity or person receiving or sending funds via PayPal is in Iran, they are indeed blocking the transactions (or trying to in any event). In the case of JP Morgan Chase, several foreign air carriers (KE, SQ and others) were selling cargo shipments between Singapore or Korea, etc and Iran (i.e., wholly transacted outside the US). However since the air waybills were denominated in USD, that incorporated a nexus with US commerce (even though JP Morgan’s involvement was indirect through foreign clearinghouse(s)). The OFAC has fined them. Walmart got in trouble several years ago for a simple $25.00 online transaction - no kidding!  

The US is unlike any other nation I know of in its willingness to project its laws and regulations extraterritorially (ok maybe Saudi Arabia has gone a bit further of late).

I live in Houston so glad we are not yet on any sanctions lists 😉 .........

[mwilk 1,104]

3 hours ago, Bluestar said:

I'm not sure what the problem is with Pay Pal, but I do not believe that it has anything to do with sanctions or anything like that. I had a similar issue when buying KIAH (George Bush International) from FSDT.  My other purchases with FSDT were fine. The last I checked Houston is not under sanctions or an embargo. 🙂

Grace and Peace, 

I had the exact same issue with the same piece of software. Apparently, PayPal's security software isn't very sophisticated.

[ideoplastic 86]

39 minutes ago, Benjamin J said:

Ah okay, yes I've heard of other people with similar issues trying to be this scenery through Paypal... Then again... Might have been you posting those messages...

Not me,This is my first post on this issue.and  I only post on Avsim.

Edited October 24, 2018 by ideoplastic
correct grammar

[ErichB 3,638]

 

12 hours ago, mwilk said:

I had the exact same issue with the same piece of software. Apparently, PayPal's security software isn't very sophisticated

As Paypal is a US company the OFAC sanctions algorithm on their payment systems will probably not allow the payment to be made as the developer will more than likely be based in Iran.  Facilitating a payment to an OFAC sanctioned country could lead to massive fines for any US institution facilitating the payment.   Best to use another payment method.  The UK has lifted sanctions against Iran so payment from a UK or European based banking institution should not be a problem.

 

[anden145 2,283]

I'm not sure I understand this... I highly doubt, it has anything to do with US embargos or trade restrictions.

SimMarket is based in Germany. The PayPal transaction isn't sending funds to any Iranian bank or people - it's trading with SimMarket, who is the facilitator in this particular instance...

PayPal isn't aware of what you have bought... They act as a payment processor between you and the seller - SimMarket in this case. They receive information of an transaction ID, an amount and details of you as a person. Unless you are Iranian or are paying using a credit card, which is issued by an Iranian bank, I don't see the connection.