Musings of an Internet Junkie

As some of you may recall, I was the victim of a scam artist named Paul Calabrese at the end of 2007 and Paypal refused to collect from his account after finding in my favor through their dispute system. After I filed an unauthorized transaction investigation with my own bank, Paypal then attempted to collect from me, going so far as sending me to a collections agency. After I disputed the transaction again, in writing to both the collection agency and Paypal, Paypal quietly resolved the issue in March by crediting my account back the amount they had removed after I had filed the unauthorized transaction investigation.

I was never contacted via email, phone, or written letter upon the resolution which I find odd since any transaction on my Paypal account in the past had always generated a message in my inbox. I was notified on July 4, 2008, that my funds could now be withdrawn from my Paypal account which I found odd and upon logging in found the transaction under dispute had been reversed in March, 2008, not long after I had written the letter to the collection agency and Paypal.

1. Comments are back up now after updating the site software. Hopefully I have less issues with spam and attempted SQL injection attacks…these people have too much time on their hands, how do I get more time?

2. I applied for and accepted another job position within my company. I am not leaving the position I am currently in, instead the new position is just being added to my current responsibilities with proper compensation. I am not only a Validation Specialist but I am now the Network Administrator for Vectech Pharmaceutical Consultants, Inc.

3. My current pet project is starting to feel like it is finally nearing completion. A friend and I will be working on Saturday, May 3, to drop in the 1UZ-FE engine into my 1987 Toyota Supra. My project blog can be found at the the 1UZ Supras site, http://1uzsupra.com

Commenting has been temporarily turned off while we update our site software. Thank-you for your patience!

Since my contract with Verizon would be up in May, I started looking around at various carriers and their phones during the past several weeks. Due to my location, Verizon does not provide EVDO coverage until I drive approximately nine miles south of town. I thought if I were to stay with Verizon, I would be limited to voice and text only plans due to my location. However, after speaking with a sales rep, I was assured this was not the case. Yes, I would not be able to take advantage of MMS messaging but I would be able to have a data connection at my location, albeit a bit slower. After speaking with the sales rep I decided to stick with Verizon and upgrade my old RAZR V3c phone to the new Samsung SCH-i760.

I have only had approximately six (6) hours to play with it but I already love it. Want a wonderful device with Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi 802.11b/g, and of course 1xRTT/EVDO built in. It is also a Wndows Mobile 6 Professional device, although Verizon saw fit to remove the Live integration for some reason, most likely due to their continuous need to profit from their subscribers in every way possible. As I play with my new gadget further, I will post up a more detailed review.

Although I have had it now for quite some time, I never reported on my other interesting gadget I obtained through a deal on eBay. I have always been interested in embedded Linux devices, especially the Sharp Zaurus series of PDA devices. When I first saw a new Sharp Zaurus SL5000 I immediately fell in love with the PDA and its hidden slider keyboard concept. However, I never got around to purchasing one or its upgraded siblings the SL5500 and SL6000. Then I came across an eBay auction for a Sharp Zaurus C860 PDA. Although Sharp discontinued the Zaurus line in the US, they continued to develop the line in Japan for quite some time and came out with a PDA line which resembled tiny convertible tablet notebooks. Here is a picture of the C860.

It is a very hackable device and there is an excellent following on the Internet which is still developing, upgrading and pushing the limits of what these devices are capable of. Although the device only runs a 400MHz processor is is more than capable of playing multimedia files, surfing the Internet, running office suite tasks (i.e. word processing, spreadsheets), developing code, hacking, and even running security audits.

In November, I filed a dispute with PayPal since another PayPal user decided to take payment from my for a number of items and never shipped said items. I was awarded a claim on the dispute in December from PayPal, however at that time PayPal would not collect against the user Paul Calabrese, meth8600@hotmail.com due to “insufficient funds” in his account so I was never granted a refund.

I decided to file a fraud claim with my own bank due to PayPal’s lack of resolution. Today PayPal decided to return the money back to my bank by removing it from my own PayPal account thereby causing my PayPal account to have a negative balance. What I do not understand is why this could not have been done to user Paul Calabrese’s account at the time of dispute since PayPal seems so willing to make my account negative to resolve a dispute with my bank and why I am being penalized via my PayPal account instead of the person who committed the fraud. It is my belief that PayPal could have and should have removed the money from Paul Calabrese’s account to resolve this issue and leave him with a negative balance.

Now I am left to dispute the negative balance of my account with PayPal, who created the negative balance to begin with. Most likely they will claim ignorance or it is some policy or procedure and then will attempt to go on to try to collect back the money from me by ruining my credit record. I cannot even close my own account with PayPal at this time to protest since I have a negative balance which they created through their actions. Needless to say, I have been documenting everything from the time the first transaction occured, through the dispute and claim process, and now this new twist. The saga continues….

I am appealing to the Internet community at large to help provide me with information to track down one Paul Calabrese, located in Connecticut. Mr. Calabrese took payment for automotive parts orders from several people on Club Lexus and never delivered the parts, instead opting to take the money and disappear. All of us involved have filed disputes through PayPal who has been less than helpful in recovering our money from Mr. Calabrese. I have also personally filed complaints with the Internet Crime Complaint Center and filed a fraud affidavit with my own bank. I do not expect much help from these entities either.

My ultimate goal would be to locate Mr. Calabrese so I may bring charges against him for fraud and other laws which may have been broken in this failed interstate commerce transaction. I would also like to show that people are not as anonymous on the Internet as they would like to believe seeing as how fraud on the Internet is on the rise which I posit is because people believe they have some sort of anonymity on the Internet so they will not be held accountable for their actions. Club Lexus will not release the last logged IP address of Mr. Calabrese without a subpoena. PayPal will not release Mr. Calabrese’s address without a subpoena.

Here is the information I have collected on Paul Calabrese thus far:

Name: Paul Calabrese
Location: Connecticut (possibly around the Waterbury area, although this has not be verified)
Birth Date: January 14, 1986
Car: 1993 Lexus SC400, silver spruce color
Screen Name: Cal9126
Email: meth8600@hotmail.com

Winter semester at Baker officially kicks off tomorrow! During the first session, I will be taking Java Programming I and Discrete Mathematics. During the second session I will be taking Advanced Java Programming. I look forward to learning Java since some of its uses follow my own interests. Java is used as an embedded platform on cell phones, it is being used in Google’s Android, and it is being used on BluRay discs and players to name a few of its uses which interest me.

Fall semester at Baker Online came to a close yesterday and now I can finally relax a little for the next three weeks before beginning my next semester which includes another twelve credit hours while I work full time in a job which requires unpredictable travel. While I welcome the challenge, I must admit I have been looking forward to these next three weeks for the last couple and even though my work continues, school is just one less thing to worry about during these next few weeks.

During Fall Semester I took and successfully passed Objected Oriented Programming w/C++, Organizational Psychology, and Philosophy of Ethics. Once the Winter Semester arrives, I will be taking JAVA Programming, and Discrete Mathematics during the first half while finishing up the second half of the semester with Advanced JAVA Programming.

I finally obtained the motor needed for my swap project with my 1987 Toyota Supra. I will be installing the famed Lexus 1UZ-FE quad-cam, 32valve V8 into the Supra. I am hoping to finish it up across the Winter here in Michigan and be running by mid-April in 2008. A project diary will be kept at http://1uzsupra.com.

What is the deal with SUV and pickup truck drivers these days? I drive a a grand touring sports car, and it is not a small car seeing as how it weighs in at ~3500lbs without me in it, yet these drivers must be blind since they are either pulling out in front of me, or pulling so far ahead of me when I am attempting to make a left hand turn that I can no longer see if there is any oncoming traffic from the right hand side forcing me to wait for their sorry excuse of a life to get out of the way so I can safely enter traffic.