First: The Oman deal is shady as all get out. The problem for me is it is no different than robbing a store front on your street and then blaming the owner for being stupid and leaving the store open. Shit happens but justifying it to get free shit is just shady. Cop to it and live with the reality. You already made the action, hone up.
Secondly: I don't feel the story is complete. Was the ban a result of some shady dealings of the GT/Console using a "shared" account with a stolen card? Was it something as simple as the GT owner having his credit card stolen and another console having issues and a mistake was made? Something in between? While they're not new to issues, most of the bans I've personally seen have been legit, no matter how the person spins it, but I do not believe for a minute they're above an error or two. Bringing the first part into the equation I do wonder: Would a cop stop you and go, "oh, snap, you're right... the owner of the store totally left the door open. His bad...keep the goods." I dunno... probably not (even if MS isn't cops... I'm sure it's better than if they decided to get the police involved...no? I don't see too many judges thinking it's "cool" to jump on the bandwagon...but, I honestly could be wrong.)
With that said, I do have issues with how little control we have over our own consoles and I always have. It's been an issue I've had with Sony for a VERY long time, and MS is guilty of this as well.
Understand I am in agreement that they should protect their interests and any possible piracy if they can. I do however believe they go overboard with this and do not attempt to stop piracy so much as keep a tight reign over their mastery of your physical hardware. It appears ethically wrong to withhold the reasons for a ban from the person banned, regardless of how unethical the reason for the banning may be. I have issue with this concept and BOTH MS AND SONY are guilty of this. Neither side is guiltless in this and neither side runs a "better system." You'll hear horror stories from both sides, and both sides control their ecosystem with an iron fist.
I rest confident however that it wasn't simple as having a cross region account. I don't think someone who downloaded "A" game would have this issue. If suddenly "I" get banned I'll be the first to call "Tyrants!" -Adam
It's not like theft. In the case of digital games and most online shops, you make an offer to buy a product at the listed price which the seller accepts or doesn't. In case of an open store, you don't make an offer to buy the product at the listed price, you steal it. So stop with this bullshit if you don't know the difference between a purchase and theft. Taking advantage of pricing errors is not theft.