Paying for my recent ancient acquisition

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by AussieCollector, Jul 2, 2019.

  1. AussieCollector

    AussieCollector Moderator Moderator

    Thought I'd share this interesting interaction.

    I tried to pay for my recent win at auction last night, but was a bit stumped that I got no confirmation for my payment. So I logged in online and checked to see that there was a pending transaction there, so I guessed all was good.

    But when I checked online again this morning, it was gone completely.

    I then called up my bank to inquire as to what was going on. They then transferred me to the fraud team.

    After many questions about my identity, they then said "Yea, look mate, we're going to have to have a conversation about what you're trying to purchase here".

    I explained I was purchasing a coin.

    They then said "Yea, so this is the problem mate. Is this like a bit-coin or some sort of other cryptocurrency or something?"

    To which I explained "no, it's an ancient Greek coin."

    Them: ".....oh. So... like a physical coin?"

    Me: "Yes. An actual physical ancient coin."

    Them: "Sorry, all fixed. It'll go through now"

    Ahhh, the trials and tribulations of a collector :rolleyes: o_O :D :eek:
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2019
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  3. rrdenarius

    rrdenarius non omnibus dormio Supporter

    Great story, thanks for sharing.
     
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  4. happy_collector

    happy_collector Well-Known Member

    That surely is an interesting experience. Thanks for sharing. :happy:
     
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  5. AussieCollector

    AussieCollector Moderator Moderator

    I think they thought I was involved in some sort of dishonest dealings!
     
  6. pprp

    pprp Well-Known Member

    Unless you were trying to transfer a 5 digit figure I find this totally unacceptable and you should be covered by the data protection regulation, I suppose your country has one...They have no rights to know what are you buying in any case.
     
    Valentinian likes this.
  7. AussieCollector

    AussieCollector Moderator Moderator

    You could be right. I wasn't fussed however, they're my bank. As if they don't already know what I spend my money on.

    I think they were more concerned about me compromising the security of my card through dodgy cryptocurrency purchases.
     
  8. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Really interesting story - not sure why the transaction was flagged nor why they mentioned bitcoin/cryptocurrency - most unusual.
     
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  9. Ken Dorney

    Ken Dorney Yea, I'm Cool That Way...

    I've had similar experiences over the years. One time I had a friend in the United Arab Emirates send me some coins and antiquities. It was one of those deals where I pay only after receiving them and was happy with the deal. I was. So, I went to the bank to make a transfer. When they noticed the country I was sending money to the teller got the bank manager to check it all out. At first they feared I was sending terror money or something. But after explaining they then feared I was the potential victim of some sort of Nigerian style scam. It took a lot of explaining and telling them repeatedly that I already had the goods in hand and that he needed to be paid for said goods. The whole process took about 45 minutes and in the end they still thought it was some sort of scam.
     
  10. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    When I read this I expected to see a story about having to eat ramen noodles.
     
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  11. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    About two years ago a friend of mine (whom is atheist and born in the US... but has a Persian name because his parents fled the Iranian revolution) went to spend three months in the Emirates with his sister and brother-in-law, whom are also natural born Americans but live there currently because they have a car dealership there. I asked my friend to be on the lookout for one or two antiques for me... which I would gladly pay for it he could find and send to me. He found and sent me what I had asked for, but his sister lent him the money as his credit card did not want to work. So I promptly sent money over there through his sister's account to cover the costs of the antiques. My bank called me and basically interrogated me about funding terrorists. Even after explaining everything, and telling them that I knew his relatives over there (I've personally met them before) and they are US citizens who live there because they own a Mercedes dealership in Dubai, they did not sound convinced but eventually let the money go through.

    Well, until today every time I fly internationally I get "randomly selected" for extra tests such as swabbing of my hands and sometimes luggage too. And when my friend came back from his trip he was subjected to a 2-hour interrogation at the airport.
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2019
  12. Ken Dorney

    Ken Dorney Yea, I'm Cool That Way...

    I ued to do a lot of business with a well known Jerusalem antiquities family. Getting payment to them was also an issue (though I dont know why) but eventually they just opened up a Bank of America checking account. I'd just walk into my local branch office and make deposits directly to their account. No problems after that.
     
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  13. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    I've purchased coins from the U.A.E. and have never had any problems, fortunately. However, on my last trip to Egypt and Jordan I stayed for four months in those countries. When I get back to the U.S. I was grilled by U.S. customs at the San Francisco airport for two hours asking what I had done in those countries for so long. They also searched my backpack, took everything out, were irritated and suspicious because I had a pocket-book size Qu'ran in Arabic given to me by a professor at Al-Azhar who used to teach at UC Berkeley when I was a student there - which I kept largely to humor the locals if I ever got in trouble with Islamists (which I did on one occasion in Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt) so having the book was very helpful in warding off unwanted attention and showing respect for the local religion.

    In Egypt I was accustomed to waking up at 5am because of the first call to prayer from the mu'ezzins blaring from every mosque!

    They said they would research my background and do another interview in a couple of days if it was "warranted". Nothing happened after that. But it was a real pain.
     
  14. Severus Alexander

    Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

    Screen Shot 2019-07-03 at 10.25.07 AM.jpg

    (It was Canada Day on Monday. I'm feeling grateful.)
     
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  15. AussieCollector

    AussieCollector Moderator Moderator

    I wish! If this were the case, I'd have a gold Greek Stater in my hands. Instead, it's just another Tetradrachm (for which I am of course grateful for).

    Fascinating to hear the stories of others about issues sending overseas. I can sort of understand why the banks would be skeptical in some instances, but I was sending money to a Swiss company. It doesn't get any more 'banky' than that :)
     
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  16. octavius

    octavius Well-Known Member

    About 2 years ago I went to my local bank branch to wire money to Austria. After filling out all the information with the "banker" she went into a back room to send the order. After about 15 minutes she finally came back out with a worried look and told me there was a problem. It the took me another 15 minutes to explain to her that Austria was different from Australia , and was a German speaking country in Europe. As they say, you just can't make these things up!
     
  17. AussieCollector

    AussieCollector Moderator Moderator

  18. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    Australia is a lot like the southern US, except there you occasionally have to punch the misbehaving native wildlife....

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    while in the southern US if you mess with the locals you'll probably lose a few fingers, if not more...:eek:

    downloadfile-6.jpg

    And yes, I know there are huge crocks in Australia, but you have to go to remote areas to see them. Here the gators will bathe in your pool, make a snack out of your cat, and come inside the house for dinner if you are not paying attention.:nailbiting:

    Not long ago, here in Florida an 11 foot gator decided to personally go check out what his neighbors were baking in the oven. Talk about an unexpected dinner guest. According to local news, the gator drank the homeowner's bottles of red wine before being sent to a gator sanctuary to hopefully turn his life around. And no, I'm not making it up...you can watch it on YouTube.

    downloadfile-7.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2019
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