At approximately 2:00 AM this morning, Geek4Rent of Cyberwings began harrassing me via private messages in IRC. (He was spying on an anti-Cyberwings channel I was in at the time, and I ratted him out to the ops...maybe he was angered.) When he was kicked, he became increasingly rude to me, and when I told him that he was harrassing me, he said he was aware and that it could get much worse. I, never thinking that he would *cheat* by using the helpdesk ticket I filed for my refund to get my phone number, told him "bring it on". He responded with "I thought you'd never ask" and my phone rang. I just picked it up and hung up again, then took the phone off the hook, but I wonder if more is to come? I mean, this surely doesn't seem like much, but it woke my parents up and they were annoyed, and I am annoyed...

Unfortunately, I was so irked by the whole thing that I just exited IRC and forgot to save the log. I am such an idiot. And it seems my phone company doesn't have *57. Damn.

Seems to me like someone needs some stress management.

Even though you do say you forgot to save the logs and everything, I personally would find it so much easier to comment on this if I did see the logs. I'm not saying I don't believe you :cool: .

Is Geek4Rent a Cyberwings volunteer or payed staff member?

He needs to be careful using phone lines, falls under FBI if it becomes a crime by his actions.

he's supposed to be a paid staffer.

smidwap, i understand what you're saying and am not surprised at all that someone is skeptical. this is quite unbelievable. but i was just too irked and wanted to just get off IRC as soon as possible.

now, i'm not saying i wasn't doing my share of the name-calling, etc., but he is a staffer. he is not supposed to say things like "drive your 60schevytruck[?] off a bridge" - i guess referring to my '65 dually. or "let me guess...you live in a single-parent home. did daddy run away?" (not true)

and the thing is, he was able to access my phone number because i filed a helpdesk ticket for a refund and this was one of the required pieces of information. total misuse of power.

nvphone, does this constitute a crime in your eyes? :/ if not, at what extent would you consider it a crime?

Nick, you posted your home address and phone number on a letter you posted the link to to everyone in that channel....


So it may NOT have been from a helpdesk ticket... I saw the posdt and read your letter to the AG.

I would be mildly skeptical (because you didn't save any evidence), but for the fact that Geek4Rent has already done the exact same things in front of about 200 people in the official Cyberwings chat room. In fact, he was kicked off the entire chat network at one point because he gave out a customer's private contact information (phone number) in the chat room! He is supposedly the Cyberwings "general manager" or some such, and the fact that Mr. CEO does not announce firing him or renounce any connection to him just makes Cyberwings look even worse than it already is (if that's possible).

UPDATE...just got this today...(attached) - best viewed if renamed to .html

Has he threatened you over the telephone? If so, I would get a restraining order, otherwise he's just full of crap and you should just ignore him.

no threats yet

The US Federal Government addressed interstate telephone harassment in U.S. Code Title 47/5/II section 223. (The Communications Act). This Act makes it a Federal offense to place obscene or harassing telephone calls within the United States, the District of Columbia, or interstate or foreign commerce, including a person who:


(a) (1)
(A) makes any comment, request, suggestion or proposal which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent;
(B) makes a telephone call, whether or not conversation ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number;
(C) makes or causes the telephone of another repeatedly or continuously to ring, with intent to harass any person at the called number; or
(D) makes repeated telephone calls, during which conversation ensues, solely to harass any person at the called number.



Note that in (B) it only takes ONE CALL to make this an illegal activity. Phone records, land line and cell, can be easily tracked and verify whether the call was made or not.

edited for dbl posting

silly question - what irc network ?

webmaster

irc.webchat.org is the irc network


Another thing, dunno if this has already been posted but supposedly a certain user who is owed several hundred dollars (and has been requesting a refund in many different ways for a month or so to no avail) would get a 403 forbidden error when trying to access the helpdesk page. If he changed computers/IPs it would work. Go figure.

This will be so funny if you get a restraining order. Man, is he even in the same area?

*Any cyberwings associate or anyone related to cyberwings company may not approach John Doe within 100 Meters.

Bah, in the Yahoo thread someone just explained to me why they are lining up for more of this kind of abuse and deceit (name omitted to protect the gullible):
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am staying because what Shawn proposes to do can be done.
When it all hit the fan I already understood it probably could not be cleared up in a week ... so I did not expect to be online immediately.

There was/is no excuse for the attitude from Shawn.
His behavior and failure to be forthright in what was really going on clearly shows his immaturity. His continued failure to offer an apology to his customers and still not take responsibility for his part in the customer backlash ... again shows his immaturity.

However most of us have been incredibly immature at one time or another in our lives ... hopefully we learn from those incidents. From the tone of the last chat transcript (July 27th) it looks to me like Shawn has learned much ... so I am willing to place my $200 already paid behind him in hopes he can pull off his dream ... because if he does we all (those who remain) win.

On another note for those who think you can set up a data center over night I suggest you try and simply reformat your own hard drive when you have an undiagnosed hardware problem somewhere on your system. You might gain some perspective on how time consuming trouble-shooting a supposed very simple task can become.

I would imagine your refund will be processed as quickly as possible now that things are seeming to settle down a bit.

My helpdesk number is around 420 and I had no trouble making the report.
------------------------------------------------------

It looks to me like someone is still asking to lose their money with this scam!

I have found this out myself:

No matter how much people bash Shawn, I disagree with everyone who thinks he is just a kid who is immature and has no clue how to run any web hosting business. He did host over 16,000 domains and accounts, correct?? I am not saying he did not ACT immature. I did not like the way he talking about how all of these negative comments against Cyberwings were "intolerable" and "abusive" and "trash". Some of them seemed like legitimate comments to me. I still have to say that in my opinion, Shawn is not hiding anything. In other words, I do not think he is a big liar like many of us think (I am not speaking for anyone who does not think he is a liar).

Altogether, I don't think Shawn and Cyberwings is done for...yet. Shawn's legacy is not yet ruined and permanent.

nick would like us to believe that this "harassment" was more serious than it actually was. i was present in a chat earlier and saw nick post the following information, which may clarify the situation for many of you:

[22:24] <|shmael> Any more shenanigans from Geek4Rent or the rest of the crew from Titanic?
[22:24] <TripWire> hehe ouch
[22:25] <TripWire> naa it's been quiet today
[22:25] <aa``> ask geek himself..he's "here"
[22:25] <|shmael> you mean quiet beyond the fact that he personally harassed a person on this messageboard
[22:25] <|shmael> and even called them several times last night to taunt them
[22:25] <\Nick\> what messageboard?
[22:25] <\Nick\> are you talking about me?
[22:26] <\Nick\> |shmael, are you talking about me?
[22:26] <|shmael> not sure \nick\ did you have a different naem before
[22:26] <\Nick\> Nobody04221
[22:26] <\Nick\> or something
[22:26] <|shmael> er name... yu[
[22:26] <\Nick\> to clarify, it was only once ; i took the phone off the hook
[22:27] <|shmael> gotit, still ****ing lame
[22:27] <\Nick\> agreed
[22:27] <|shmael> did he say any words when you picked up?
[22:27] <|shmael> like "Hi, I am lame"
[22:27] <\Nick\> i just picked up and hung it back up
[22:27] <\Nick\> i knew it was him
[22:27] <\Nick\> because he had just told me it could get much worse
[22:28] <aa``> you should have at least said hello too see what psycho thing he'd say
[22:28] <\Nick\> and i, never expecting a phone call, told him to bring it on
[22:28] <\Nick\> then the phone rang
[22:28] <|shmael> yeah, he doesn't know worse until he starts taunting someone else bigger than him who won't take it
[22:28] <\Nick\> i think i'm at least the same size
[22:28] <|shmael> he is right now reading this popping his zits laughing at me
[22:28] <aa``> yeah, but he has a lot of drunk redneck buddies that could do some damage
[22:28] <\Nick\> lol
[22:29] <\Nick\> but he THINKS he could kick my ass, so...
[22:29] <\Nick\> but i mean, a smoker who never goes outside except, well...to smoke.
[22:29] <\Nick\> spends all his time on the computer
[22:30] <|shmael> and on irc
[22:30] <\Nick\> against someone who only spends most of his time on the computer
[22:30] <\Nick\> and who doesn't smoke
[22:30] <\Nick\> and who swims, etc.
[22:30] <\Nick\> i think not. :)
[22:30] <|shmael> I practice full contact origami
[22:31] <\Nick\> i am trained in yamughikwando
[22:31] *** Quits: |shmael (~lfontaine@=uA69-984-039-13.client.attbi.com) (QUIT: User exited)
[22:32] <BMWmel> hehehe. "full contact origami". good one.
[22:32] <\Nick\> yeah

totally different issue, morgaine. i am still freaked about it. the phone call was meant to antagonize. PERIOD! ( :) )

here's a log of a short chat session with Shawn, who is now claiming it never happened. he is totally full of poop because i asked an ircop if there was even a such thing as IRC harrassment and he said no because there are ignore lists):

Session Start: Sun Jul 28 21:55:18 2002
Session Ident: CEO-Shawn
(\Nick\) Geek did, liar
(3Invite:1Johnpls3)14 invites you in1 #cw-s
(\Nick\) probably from his home
[2CEO-Shawn2] Last warning, PM me again and I will press charges. Even you are not allowed to harass people, even me, if we ask you not to. Last warning. PM me again, face charges.
Session Close: Sun Jul 28 21:56:56 2002

Session Start: Sun Jul 28 22:06:48 2002
Session Ident: CEO-Shawn
Session Ident: CEO-Shawn (~CEO-Shawn@=8sswom-179-54-39-178.res.east.verizon.net)
CEO-ShawnN/A
12[1Channels12]:15 
[2CEO-Shawn2] I warned you, sending emails to the appropriate people now. No one within my organization has called your numbers, and even if we did, you provided it to us as a courtesy in case we needed to reach you. I am fully prepared to release our phone records to the authorities, and we have all of your chat logs. Do not push me. And you are now on IGNORE and this is being reported to webchat and others.
Session Close: Sun Jul 28 22:07:09 2002

These forums remind me of the Jerry Springer show! :D :D :D :stickout

One expression: :eek:

Jerry Jerry Jerry Jerry

oh i got carried away there hahaha

jesus christ people. it's been long enough. file federal fraud charges against shawn, against cyberwings, against whoever their 16 year old LeEt hacker "employees" are and move on.

damn, this has been going on far too long and if you people honestly think that EVEN IF cyberwings can get back up, that they'll be around this time next year i'm sure there are plenty of people here who will sell you some a 900gb hard-drive for $99.

cyberwings and their "staff" need to all be sued and/or arrested for perpetuating this obvious fraud and now harrassment ring.

I was present the night geek4rent was giving out phone numbers of complaining customers. Unfortunately I was in java chat since I was banned, so I had to take a screen shot.

Relevent information has been crossed out.

This is the first of two screen shots I have taken. The second he is giving out her name and Comatose is chiming in saying they have more to give out.

Forever banned,
LordOfFli

Originally posted by skylab
jesus christ people. it's been long enough. file federal fraud charges against shawn, against cyberwings, against whoever their 16 year old LeEt hacker "employees" are and move on.

damn, this has been going on far too long and if you people honestly think that EVEN IF cyberwings can get back up, that they'll be around this time next year i'm sure there are plenty of people here who will sell you some a 900gb hard-drive for $99.

cyberwings and their "staff" need to all be sued and/or arrested for perpetuating this obvious fraud and now harrassment ring.

I agree 100%. Throw their sorry asses in jail and stop this nonsense!

guys, i'm just a 14-year-old who's nervous as hell...who just wants it all to go away...

this staffer is obviously on the brink of insanity -- getting this staffer arrested is not worth my life.

i hope that this doesn't happen to anyone else, but i can't bring myself to go to the police. sorry.

Just file a Class action Lawsuit aganist Cyberwings and be done with it.

Geezz.. like watching Grade schoolers on this board anymore.

"Just" file a class action? No easy task... Especially when they can't be physically located.

Nevertheless, this is one particular employee I have a problem with.

On another note, certain friends of mine are working to get Cyberwings unplugged again - they are violating several of their new bandwidth provider's terms of service.

Originally posted by nsaunders
guys, i'm just a 14-year-old who's nervous as hell...who just wants it all to go away...

this staffer is obviously on the brink of insanity -- getting this staffer arrested is not worth my life.

i hope that this doesn't happen to anyone else, but i can't bring myself to go to the police. sorry.

You as a 14 year old have better things to worry about than some crazy CW employee ( start worrying about pimples and girls ). tell your adult guardian ( mom / dad ) about this problem and let them take this on for you.

Mike

Also, feel free to notify these nice people: noc@cogentco.com with any problems you may have with Cyberwing Communications. This goes for anyone who has had a problem with them. :D

this forum should have a cyberwings forum.. I have never seen so many threads for a web host of that size here.

lol...mike, i appreciate it - and yes, i do worry about more important things when i'm not busy with crap like this...

as far as any kind of legal action goes, i think i'm going to leave it alone until i get another phone call in the middle of the night (i've been leaving my phone off the hook the past couple nights)...

i have talked to my parents, and this is the consensus for now

Originally posted by ADEhost


You as a 14 year old have better things to worry about than some crazy CW employee ( start worrying about pimples and girls ). tell your adult guardian ( mom / dad ) about this problem and let them take this on for you.

Mike

i know i'm not extremely eloquent, so here's a log that may further clear this up for y'all:


puli-lover[*!*mtvrc@=Ywhe91-19-818-21.hr.hr.cox.net]
[Channels]: #wingtalk
[puli-lover] Mind clueing me in too? I haven't been by here today until now. I'm not very happy when Geek is here too :)
(\Nick\) well...
(\Nick\) hang on
[puli-lover] k
(\Nick\) okay, did you hear about what geek did to me?
[Whois/puli-lover]: address: [~mtvrc@=Ywhe91-19-818-21.hr.hr.cox.net] [Internic Network] puli-lover
[Channels]: #wingtalk
[Server]: glass.webchat.org [WebMaster, Inc - www.webmaster.com]
[puli-lover] no I didn't
(\Nick\) he was spying on #wingtalk a couple nights ago...
[puli-lover] as usual
(\Nick\) and i ratted him out...
[puli-lover] good for you
(\Nick\) then a few minutes later, i called him a name in pm, then he pasted it publicly and got kicked for an inappropriate word
(\Nick\) :)
(\Nick\) then he began exchanging insults with me via pm's
[puli-lover] :)
(\Nick\) then he accused me of having harassed some friends of his
(\Nick\) then i told him he was harassing me at that very moment
(\Nick\) (he was telling me things like "drive your truck off a bridge")
(\Nick\) and he said he was aware, and that it could get MUCH worse
(\Nick\) one second later, my phone rang
[puli-lover] what a prick
(\Nick\) keep in mind, i live with my parents - and it was 11 PM my time
(\Nick\) 2 AM his time
(\Nick\) they had been sleeping and all...
(\Nick\) i just picked it up and hung up
[puli-lover] geez
(\Nick\) 'cause i knew it was him
(\Nick\) oh, wait...let me back up a couple steps
(\Nick\) after he said it could get worse, i, certainly not expecting a phone call, said "bring it on" and he said "i thought you'd never ask"
(\Nick\) then the phone rang
[puli-lover] **** man
(\Nick\) okay, then last nite...
(\Nick\) shawn banned me from #cw when i was just idling
[puli-lover] big surprise
(\Nick\) with the reason that i was harassing staff, apparently
(\Nick\) lol
(\Nick\) so i pm'ed him
(\Nick\) i called him a liar
[puli-lover] shawn?
(\Nick\) yep...and i told him he knew damn well that geek called ME
(\Nick\) he repeatedly said phone records would disprove that, and i told him that it was probably from his personal phone
[puli-lover] Shawn denies everything
(\Nick\) then he told me that harassment was illegal and if i pm'ed him and his staff any more, he would press charges
[puli-lover] I'm speechless
(\Nick\) then i pm'ed him again telling him i wouldn't harass him or his staff if they never called my house again
(\Nick\) and he told me that he had warned me and now i was being reported to webchat "and others"
[puli-lover] Shawn says lots of things
(\Nick\) i didn't even mention the bit about getting my money back, like i should have.
[puli-lover] like that will ever happen
(\Nick\) i also forgot to mention that just before any of this happened, my helpdesk account mysteriously disappeared.
[puli-lover] what a spiteful sob
(\Nick\) yep.
[puli-lover] so whatcha going to do now? Just move on....?
(\Nick\) everyone is screaming at me to file charges
(\Nick\) :)
[puli-lover] ;-)
(\Nick\) but i don't think i will yet
(\Nick\) this will be the first night i leave the phone off the hook
(\Nick\) since then, i mean
(\Nick\) so if i get a call...
[puli-lover] probably best to see what happens next
(\Nick\) yep.
(\Nick\) mind if i post this on my WHT thread?
[puli-lover] I'd tape record all incoming messages
(\Nick\) yeah
(\Nick\) will do
[puli-lover] keep some proof
[puli-lover] damn rednecks
(\Nick\) mind if i post this on my WHT thread to make my story a little clearer to people?
(\Nick\) apparently i'm not very eloquent
[puli-lover] no problem
(\Nick\) thanks
[puli-lover] thanks for sharing
(\Nick\) thanks for listening :)
[puli-lover] heading back to main room.....

http://www.ConsumerAffairs.com:mad: :D :stickout

Forget that. Hit them where it hurts. Report their deceptive business practices and abuse to noc@cogentco.com

will do, drew...right now so that i don't forget.

Here's a portion of what I emailed Cogent:

#2 - I am being harassed and stalked by Cyberwing Communications personnel. I will not deny that I have done some name-calling via IRC, but they are not guiltless either, and one particular employee has said outright lies about me - saying that I lived in a single-parent home and that my father ran away. I don't know what would possess a person to say this, but it is not true, and I don't appreciate it. It's not like being called a "moron" or a "thief" - it's open-ended insults with depth and with the intent to scare me. Furthermore, he told me things like "drive your 60schevytruck off a bridge". And toward the end of this one particular conversation (which was occurring via PM's on IRC), when I informed him that he was harassing me, he told me that he was aware and that "it could get much worse". I, neglecting to recall that I had entered my phone number on the helpdesk ticket and to consider it all, told him to "bring it on". He responded with, "nicky, i thought you'd never ask", and my phone rang only two seconds later. Keep in mind that this was at 2 AM EDT, and there is NO reason for Cyberwings personnel to call me. I KNOW it was this particular Cyberwings staffer because I never receive calls in the middle of the night, let alone with that particular timing. Although I neglected to save the log of the one night's conversation (I'm 14 and don't always consider everything before I do it - I just wanted to shut off the computer after I got the call and was not worried about anything but getting away from this staffer), I DO have a log of what he stated via a PM the next day when I had gone back on IRC (but not on any Cyberwings-endorsed channels). It follows:

[ 12:34:08 ] [ Geek4Rent ] hi nick
[ 12:34:34 ] [ Geek4Rent ] ya know...you should be careful what ya put on a domain record
[ 12:35:01 ] [ Geek4Rent ] ANYBODY could find that information

I would also like to point you to a Web Hosting Talk thread that may explain this further:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=63463

Thank you, and please let me know what happens.

Do you know, if you go to www.google.com you can find Shawn P. White of Old Orchard Beach, ME's home address and phone number -- by searching for:

shawn white + maine

* disclaimer -- this is public information, and therefore is valid for posting legally. I do not condone harassment.

Also, if you would like the snail mail address for Cyberwings:

Cyberwing Communications
PO Box 1052
Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064

You can use these addresses to file complaints at the BBBonline, or at the BBB in your state, or in Maine or Virginia. This might help rectify the harassment.

Good luck!

Originally posted by cbw_is_gay
I do not condone harassment.But he does encourage it!

You can also search on http://whitepages.com he may be listed. I to do not reccommend harrassing him, and getting yourself in trouble.

Originally posted by iamdave
But he does encourage it!

Depends on what you consider harassment. If you consider sending certified mail to his home address requesting a refund on a business contract (which is what your account with cyberwings is), then I don't consider that harassment.

Now, if you show up at Shawn's house, and have the urge to say... **** on his car, TP his house, or throw random rotten eggs about, then...

don't get caught!

because that, my dear, *is* harassment...

lol...that would be harassment and vandalism, but i'd really rather call it revenge

I say Tomato,

You say Tom-ah-to

Bottom line is still this:

Shawn White is a moron.

okay. :)