So you are expecting an international delivery by one of the fastest delivery companies, DHL.
You track your parcel online via the tracking number, and then suddenly, the status changes to “exception” and then “returned to shipper.” Since DHL is a very fast company, in this particular case, this happened on the same day, November 4th. You may try calling or chatting online with DHL about your parcel, and they might say that the reason your parcel has been returned is that there are some errors with the recipient address. This means your address, the shipper’s address, or some documentation might be incorrect—or at least, that’s what they may claim.
But all of this is not true. There is no problem with your delivery address. In this particular case, the same parcel was sent again the next day, on November 5th (Friday), only to be returned back on Monday, November 7th. The real problem is not the recipient address; it’s the recipient name. The name matches a person on one of the sanctions lists, for example, in the United States sanctions lists. This means your full name—your first name, last name, and any middle names you have—may be flagged.
Over the past 20 to 30 years, many common names from different nationalities—Arabic, Asian, Russian, and many others—have been added to these sanctions lists. Nowadays, it is easier to find a name that is not sanctioned than to list all those that are. Since the name is the only thing DHL has, and they do not have nationality, date of birth, or other identifiers, they err on the side of caution. To avoid accusations of assisting sanctioned individuals, they simply block the shipment altogether.
In this particular case, even though I was instructed by DHL to change the address, the only thing I changed was the first name of the recipient. I was using an intermediary service in another country, and the recipient’s brother happened to share the same address. He had the same last name and even the same middle name, but a different first name. As soon as I changed that first name, the same package, with all other delivery details unchanged, was successfully posted again on November 9th, and the recipient received it on November 11th—several days before the estimated delivery date of November 14th. Because, as I said, DHL is a very fast company.
If you find yourself in the same situation, you may want to use another name of someone who shares the same address with you. This could be a roommate, a family member, or anyone else who has a different name. Sometimes, you may receive a message or a call from DHL asking for your documents to prove that you are not a sanctioned individual. DHL even has a special “Denied Parties” team for resolving such issues. However, because DHL is a very fast company, you often have to act quickly—but they are often even faster at returning shipments to the sender.
The best way to handle this situation is to ask someone else with a different name to receive the package instead of you. To be clear, this does not mean that you are on a sanctions list. It simply means that someone with the same name as you is on one of those lists. If there is a hit, whether a partial or full match, businesses must deny any relationship with you. They are not responsible for judging whether the sanctions are fair or effective; they are simply required to deny service to you.
In some cases, you may be able to prove that you are a different person, but in most cases, companies will simply refuse to do business with you to avoid the risk. That is exactly what happens with DHL.