I sent some amount to Islamabad Pakistan to one of My friend on
3.01.2008 using Al Ansari Exchange Services for Western Union.
Receipt was given to me for that (Standard and Normal) and MTCN No was issued.
I send that Unique MTCN No. to My friend in Pakistan and advised him to collect the amount.
When I went to Pakistan in May last year , My this friend meet Me and told that he have not collected that money, I asked him the reason , he told that I wast not able to collect that in the successive dates after a month or so when I went there they told me , that this transaction needs refreshing, as we have reverted this money back to UAE.
When I returned after a month long leave and followed up with Western Union here in UAE , they told that this transaction have been blocked by US Department of Treasury OFAC(Office of Foreign Access Control).
They sent me Form to fill it and make your signature on it and sent it to the OFAC , they will issue a certificate to you , and make the benificier unblocked and hence he would be able to get the money.
As per their instructions I did what was advised, and asked them how long it will take ? , they told that it will take about 8 months.
After 8 Months I forwarded the Email as Reminder , they Told that You had to sent the Form via Snail mail.
let me guess! ...... the receiver's name is Mohamad s/th ??? or may be one of you two (sender and receiver) have a very common muslim name? .... to easily be on US govt's watch list for such transactions.
I say ditch Western Union, use moneygram.
As for your situation above ... don't know what exactly is happening so can't help.
It doesn't matter , if the receiver 's name is Muhammad , Ali or khan .. All he/she has to do it to go there with a valid ID and collect it ...
The sending motive has be genuine and the amount has to be in legal parameter.
Just wondering , why didn't your fella collect it at his earliest and when he was unable to collect , what took him so long to pass the info to you ?
That delay in collection made your money look fishy ! no wonder now , you 'll have go through heaps of trouble to get it back ! Good luck for that
And mate WU is for quick transfer of money , when one is in urgent need of sending as WU charge you more service charges than other money transferring institutions ( Banks ).
if your fella wasn't in quick need , you shouldn't have used WU
The delay in claiming this money is causing you all this trouble. Your friend should have informed you if he wasn't able to collect it OR you should have contacted the Western Union as soon as your friend told you about not collecting the money. It has nothing to do with names.
hmm I missed that part ..... so the friend did't collect the money on time? that must have made things complicated.
and yes, the name does count. A couple of people I know had to provide more personal info. on the phone after they called WU and found out that there transactions were blocked because of their similar name to some kind of black listed names given to WU by government authorities. You can also find people complaining about this 'discrimination' by WU on some online forums.
EDIT : just google western union block muslims and see what I am talking about.
Yes InToXiCaTeD the Name is contains Muhammad in it , but that was/is not cause of Blockage , and ume-zafeerah , this Money was only 200 USDollars (As I needed some documents be attested from Universities/Minisitries and Embassy).
Xenophanez and Naabigh you are right that the delay in collecting the Money made this transaction complicated , and also my friend did not inform me On time.
But the thing that first this WU people told me that you sign this form and send it to the department , I did the same by scaning the Form and attached to Email.
Now they are asking for snail mail.
Secondly , I think it was/is responsibility of WU to inform me that the receipant have not collected the Money and hence reverted back to UAE, they should call/email me which they did not do.
I think it could a strong basis for me to claim the amount ?
O Gosh i thought it was big amount but its only 200 and i don't think there can be a problem .... you must strongly claimed to Western Union as its already delayed a lot. I am sure if it happened with some European national WU must pay the penalty. You must ask for the interest ( although its haram) but at least you can push for more so at least you will be able to get your money back.