Musings of an Internet Junkie

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.