My daughter and I went looking for used boats, hoping for a reasonably-priced cuddy cabin. We saw several on-line on Boatsdepot.org and attempted contact via the button for "Contact now". It took weeks but we got a reply from "Mark" who indicated that the boat we were interested in, although advertised as being in NY, was actually in Great Britain and would required shipping.
Over several months we had periodic contact and his price on this boat was reduced to the point that we became very interested - even with the reported $1300 shipping charges. He indicated that he would cover one-half the shipping and that, with our address he would being the shipping process. However, I had to send a deposit of $ which I did, via Western Union (BIG MISTAKE!!!)
He (or someone with his ID) picked up the money that same day in London and reported that he had put the boat in the custody of the shipping company Expert ASL (and provided a website) and gave me a tracking number to use to track the progress of the shipping process.
Repeated requests for a contact number were met with the excuse that he would provide this once the boat was in transit. No number was ever provided and the phone numbers for Expert ASL - in both Tallahassee and London - were non-existent.
However, I was then required to send the remaining $1000, again via Western Union, but to an individual allegedly named Albert Newman in London. That money was also picked up the same day.
The boat was supposed to be delivered Labor Day weekend. There has been no contact from Mark Dortman (who, by the way, signs everything "Regards, Mark") or Expert-ASL, in spite of multiple emails daily.
We have since turned all our information over to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ice3) for investigation.
When we asked for interior pictures he sent 12 of them. One of the pictures clearly showed a Texas boat registration number.
This man is very good at what he does and, we believe, may also be involved in real estate scams and may even be the inventor/owner of Boatsdepot. Try and get a number for Boatsdepot sometime. Its impossible; doesn't seem to exist. If you type in Boatsdepot.com (instead of.org) you will get a real estate website.
By the way, Mark Dortman is still advertising boats on Boatsdepot.org.!
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