Pressure tactics deployed by Turkish cosmetic surgery clinics were today exposed by a shock investigation. 

An undercover reporter, posing as a 24-year-old wanting a Brazilian bum lift (BBL), contacted nine providers across Istanbul.

Within hours, she was offered time-sensitive deals with up to 30 per cent knocked off the total fee and incentives to book multiple surgeries. 

Experts today slammed the ‘unsafe and incredibly unscrupulous’ sales tactics that were found in The News Movement’s probe.

Doctors warned Brits contemplating going abroad for cut-price boob jobs, bum lifts and other procedures to think again.

Standards are notoriously laxer than in the NHS and campaigners say aftercare can be non-existent. 

Turkey has become one of the most popular destinations, fuelled by celebrities and influencers who’ve made the four-hour trip in pursuit of revamping their bodies. 

Thousands of Brits, particularly women in their 20s and 30s, flock there every year.

Of the nine clinics contacted by The News Movement, five offered discounts on the price of the surgery or price reductions for early booking and surgery. 

Among the WhatsApps received from one clinic was a message which read: ‘We are offering you a 20 per cent discount valid for 10 days. 

‘Pay a 10 per cent deposit and freeze the 20 per cent discount for one year.

‘Grab this great chance and benefit from this special time limited offer.’ 

Another clinic said: ’30 PER CENT DISCOUNT- AVAILABLE FOR 48 HOURS ONLY!’

Later it added: ‘Do not let this opportunity slip! It will only be valid for 48 hours!’

‘If you wish to secure your treatment plan for 18 months, you can do so by making a £50 deposit.’ 

After the undercover reporter sent photos and answered medical questions, a third clinic offered BBL surgery and liposuction with a 20 per cent ‘flash discount’, valid for 10 days. 

The surgery package, with a hotel stay, cost £2,800. The deposit to secure the deal was £280.

Just days later, the clinic messaged again, reducing the deposit to just £50. 

‘We are excited to extend a special offer to you, available for the next three days only,’ the message read. 

‘If you wish to secure your treatment plan for 18 months, you can do so by making a £50 deposit.’

Other sales techniques from clinics involved asking for deposits ranging from £50 to £500 for BBL and liposuction surgery packages.

For decades, Brits have been warned against seeking cheaper surgery in places like Turkey, Eastern Europe, or South East Asia.

Turkey is not inherently more dangerous than other surgical tourism hotspots.

But cheap flights between it and the UK — as well as the rise of the trend combining cosmetic surgery with a holiday — have made it one of the leading destinations for Brits looking to go under the knife. 

Paul Harris, consultant plastic surgeon and spokesperson for the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS), said he was ‘truly astonished’ by the findings.

He added: ‘The way that patients are being persuaded and preyed upon is just dreadful.

‘It really is shocking… that is almost the best example I’ve ever seen of pressurised selling techniques, all of those, combine it together all in one message trail. It’s unbelievable.’

Mr Harris said ‘pressured selling techniques’ in cosmetic surgeries were banned in the UK more than 10 years ago and it was ‘incredibly unsafe’ for Turkish clinics to be offering discounts and time limits on ‘a very complex part of healthcare’.

Seven Turkish clinics said it was possible to have multiple body and facial surgeries — including a BBL, liposuction, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty and buccal fat removal — under one anaesthesia. 

Some clinics said this would be dependent on having appropriate blood test results.

Mr Harris said it was ‘worrying’ that such combination surgeries could be accepted.

He said: ‘It really concerns me that [the surgeons are] not appropriately trained and that they are operating beyond their level of experience in that training.’

Meanwhile, Mr Navid Jallali, a former consultant surgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust, said: ‘There seems to be a big push for having multiple surgeries and they incentivise this by giving additional discounts.

‘In general, we don’t like doing procedures that will take longer than four-and-a-half hours in the UK. 

‘However, the combination being discussed will take well over that even in a very experienced surgeons hand. 

‘It is also a very unusual combination of procedures and should have been queried at the outset.’

He added: ‘This is not UK standard in terms of practice and would not be supported by any surgeons in the UK.’

‘From the General Medical Council point of view and actually for any reputable surgeon in the UK, that incentivisation of saying “we can give you a discount if you proceed” should never ever happen.

‘The patient [should] only receive surgery based on the fact that they’re going to gain a benefit and not the fact that the surgery has been done cheap or for a discounted price.’

It comes as MailOnline last month revealed taxpayers last year spent £1.7million on fixing Brits botched by cosmetic surgery carried out abroad.

An audit by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons — shared with MailOnline — showed 111 Brits needed emergency NHS care after returning from places like Turkey in 2022 to go under the knife. 

Surgeons reported their patients were lured in by what looked like ‘bargain’ tummy tucks and boob jobs. 

Others were deemed too unfit for surgery in the UK. 

But some patients were left with flesh-eating bacterial infections and implants bursting through their skin. 

Others endured potentially deadly blood clots that required urgent NHS treatment, sometimes within just days of arriving back in the UK.

Some Turkish clinics provide extreme transformations that surgeons in the UK would never dream of performing, either because the procedure is illegal in Britain or is considered too risky. 

Responding to the findings from The News Movement, Dr Alex Karidis, a consultant plastic surgeon in the UK, said: ‘I don’t think it’s ethical. I don’t think it’s right.

‘Surgery – that’s not a product that you sell… You’re potentially playing with people’s lives.’

Dr Karidis said a cosmetic surgeon in the UK who offered discounts and incentives would be ‘investigated straightaway and possibly suspended.’

He added: ‘It’s a wild west out there, they can do whatever they want. They don’t play by the same rules.’

Mr Harris acknowledged that while there are ‘reputable’ surgeons in Turkey, it was important for people to do their ‘own research’ and to think ‘very carefully’ before booking cosmetic surgery abroad.

He added: ‘We really need to be informed before making these decisions which will have a lifelong impact on you. This is not like having a haircut or buying some new clothes or going on holiday, this is a big decision that will affect the rest of your life.’

Nine Brits are injured in horrifying bus crash on way to Turkish airport

• Nine of the 11 Brits on the bus sustained injuries and were treated at the scene

By David Averre

Published: 10:28 EDT, 2 August 2023 | Updated: 15:58 EDT, 2 August 2023

British woman, 74, missing for two days is found dead in forest in popular Turkish holiday region

• The unidentified British woman is reported to have suffered from Alzheimer’s
• She was reported missing two days ago and was found by the roadside today 

By David Averre

Published: 03:31 EDT, 26 July 2023 | Updated: 13:00 EDT, 26 July 2023

At least 24 Brits have died as a result of medical tourism trips to Turkey since January 2019, according to the Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Here, MailOnline highlights some of the victims.

Leah Cambridge

Leah Cambridge, 29, suffered a blood clot during a £6,500 Brazilian butt lift surgery in Turkey. 

The mother-of-three, from Leeds, died just one day after travelling to an Elite Aftercare clinic in Turkey in August 2018. 

The trainee beautician, described as being ‘paranoid about her body’, paid in cash for the procedure after being inspired by pictures on Instagram. 

The procedure involved having fat extracted from the waist and injected into the buttocks.

But she suffered a fatal complication when fat was accidentally injected into a vein, causing her to have three heart attacks on the operating table.

Ms Cambridge’s partner Scott Franks told Wakefield Coroner’s Court that the surgeon who carried out the procedure told him he had ‘injected the fat too far into the muscle and it entered her veins’. 

Mr Franks said when he flew out to Turkey after his partner died, Dr Ali Uckan, the surgeon who treated Leah, had told him: ‘It’s a guessing game, you can’t see where you are going into.’ 

Ms Cambridge’s father, Craig, took his own life in 2021 with an inquest held in July last year hearing how he was never able to get past the loss of his daughter. 

Diarra Akua Eunice Brown

Diarra Akua Eunice Brown died aged 28, two days after getting liposuction at a clinic in the suburb of Bahcelievler in Istanbul, in October 2021. 

She reportedly underwent the operation to have fat removed from her hips. 

While the procedure initially appeared to be a success, Ms Brown ‘suddenly’ fell ill while having her dressings changed.

She died just hours later. 

Social media posts from family and friends described her as a ‘beautiful soul’ and a ‘close friend’.

‘This must be a dream,’ one post said. ‘Still can’t come to terms with this yet.’

‘I miss you angel. I’m devastated you were taken away way before your time,’ said another.

Shannon Bowe

Shannon Bowe, from Denny, near Falkirk, died while undergoing gastric band surgery in Turkey in April 2023. 

The 28-year-old passed away during the procedure which involves placing a band around the stomach.

Where exactly Ms Bowe had the procedure in Turkey and the complication that led to her death have not been revealed.

In the aftermath of her death, Ms Bowe’s boyfriend Ross Stirling wrote on social media: ‘Sleep tight my angel, love you forever and always.’

Gastric band surgery involves a doctor placing a gastric band around the top of the stomach, creating a small pouch.

When the patient eats, this small pouch fills up more quickly than their stomach normally would, making them feel fuller with less food.

By encouraging them to eat less, the procedure can help patients lose weight.  

Melissa Kerr

Melissa Kerr, 31, died while undergoing a Brazilian butt lift in Turkey in 2019, just before her wedding.

Ms Kerr traveled to Istanbul’s Medicana Haznedar Hospital in November that year for gluteal augmentation, which can cost up to £3,150. 

The psychological wellbeing practitioner, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died from a blocked artery in her lung as a result of undergoing the surgery.  

Her twin sister Natasha who set up a Justgiving.com page after her death described her a ‘a pure and beautiful soul inside and out’.

She said: ‘Words cannot describe the pain and heartbreak we are going through, life without her will never be the same again.

‘We miss her deeply and nothing will fill the emptiness we are left with.’

Melissa’s partner Skye Birch said: ‘I will continue to love you with all my heart until my last breath.’ 

Ms Kerr also worked as a volunteer helping domestic violence victims and supporting people through bereavement.

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose 

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose, a 38-year-old social worker, from Dartford, Kent, died in August 2020 after undergoing liposuction surgery in Turkey. 

The mother-of-three bought an overseas package deal with Mono Cosmetic Surgery after becoming fed up with people asking her if she was pregnant, according to her husband. 

A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Bamgbose suffered perforations to her bowel during the surgery, with the cause of death given as peritonitis with multiple organ failure. 

Peritonitis is an infection of the peritoneum, the inner lining of the tummy which covers vital internal organs like the kidneys, liver and bowel.

Her husband Moyosore Olowo told an inquest he was unaware his wife had travelled abroad for cosmetic surgery, instead believing she had simply gone on a holiday with her friends. 

It was not until Mrs Bamgbose called her husband to say she was suffering from stomach pains following the procedure that he found out what had happened. 

Mr Olowo said his wife had visited a private medical practice in the UK for surgery but added that the cost had been too high for her to have the treatment in Britain.

Carol Keenan

Carol Keenan, 54, died six days after undergoing a combined Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck in Turkey.  

The grandmother, of Glenrothes, Fife, paid £7,000 for the procedures at  a private hospital in Istanbul in 2022 after becoming anxious about the way her body looked.

Ms Keenan also accepted the offer of free abdominal muscle repair surgery shortly before she was taken into the operating theatre.

But she died before she was due to have a final check-up and fly home.

Speaking to MailOnline in April, her family said they are still waiting for the results of her autopsy 11 months on from her death.

Her daughter Leonie Keenan, 32, said: ‘My mother was a fit and healthy individual. She was a very petite size ten and she kept in shape by walking everywhere and going swimming.

‘She was a very active grandmother who loved bouncing on the trampoline with the kids –  but she was not happy with her body even though everyone told her she looked great.

‘She set her heart on having surgery after seeing stories about other people and celebrities having procedures. I don’t know if it was like a mid-life crisis.’

There has been little for traders to cheer in the City so far this year, with a dearth of merger and acquisitions as well as fundraisings.

But one man bucking the trend is the adventurous businessman Nat Rothschild, who revealed he is tapping the market for cash in order fund a takeover at Volex.

Raising funds for expansion is what the stock market was created for, but in recent years it has been used to line the chief executive’s pockets and hand back mammoth share buybacks.

Under Rothschild, the power cord maker has gone from strength to strength, supplying Tesla, the largest producer of all-electric cars, and Volkswagen.

Volex is looking to buy Murat Ticaret, a Turkish manufacturer of complex wire harnesses, for £137million. 

The deal will be funded in part by the share sale that will seek to raise £55million. The rest will be paid from existing cash on the company’s balance sheet.

Volex will sell 21,818,181 new, ordinary shares through a placing and retail offer at 275p per share. 

Executive chairman Rothschild said: ‘We believe this transaction is truly transformational for Volex, further diversifying our end market and customer exposure.’

A trader added: ‘It’s good to see a chief executive being adventurous for once. So many are overly cautious, terrified of the current climate. This is what the market is for, raising cash and taking a risk.’

Alongside the share sale, Volex also posted a 17.6 per cent rise in revenues to £565million in the last half year and dished out a 8.3 per cent increase in the final dividend.

Shares, however, dipped 0.9 per cent, or 2.5p, to 283.5p. There was little to cheer for investors as the FTSE 100 fell 0.8 per cent, or 57.15 points, to 7502.03. 

The FTSE 250 slid 1.3 per cent, or 243.48 points, to 18327.97. The Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates by 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent drove the grim session.

Financials were hit including the usually reliable 3i, which lost 2.6 per cent, or 50p, to 1907p.

The private equity firm invests in a string of companies across Europe, including Action, a Netherlands retailer.

But investors were turning to safe havens instead, snapping up drinks giant Diageo, up 0.8 per cent, or 25p, to 3330.5p, and gold miner Antofagasta which gained 1.2 per cent, or 17.5p, to 1493p.

Energy giants BP and Shell were having an equally difficult time, down 0.9 per cent, or 4p, to 460p and 1.3 per cent, or 30p, to 2333.5p respectively. 

The falls were not helped by the Church of England, which is selling its investments in the oil giants. 

The church said it had taken the decision to sell down its holdings by the end of the year ‘after concluding that none are aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, as assessed by the Transition Pathway Initiative’. 

Not even Premier Inn owner Whitbread could muster gains despite seeing hotel room bookings soar over the first quarter, particularly in London, where tourists flocked to see the King’s coronation. 

But shares fell as investors worried further inflation fears would soon bite. Shares slipped 1.1 per cent, or 37p, to 3355p.

GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine trials for RSV, a contagious respiratory disease, proved successful, showing long-term protection for adults over 65.

The pharmaceutical giant revealed results from a clinical trial, which included 25,000 people. 

It found a single dose of the shot, called Arexvy, proved to be 67.2 per cent effective in preventing RSV-lower respiratory tract disease. 

RSV affects the lungs, usually causing cold-like symptoms and in bad cases pneumonia.

According to the pharmaceutical giant, every year in the US, RSV causes 117,000 hospitalisations and 14,000 deaths of those aged 65 and over. Shares fell 0.9 per cent, or 12.8p, to 1359p.

Turkish delight for London as Ciner family plots blockbuster float of chemicals producer WE Soda

• WE Soda is owned by the Turkish billionaire Ciner family
• It is eyeing a valuation of up to £7bn and would qualify to enter the FTSE 100
• It produces natural soda ash, used in glass manufacturing, detergents and soaps 

By Emily Hawkins For The Daily Mail

Updated: 17:39 EDT, 31 May 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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Speeding through the Aegean Sea, flanked by the splendid rolling mountains of the Bodrum Peninsula, the glassy blue surface transforms into torrents of white foam.

Suddenly it’s up, up and away — no longer cruising through the water but into the sky, rising to 3,000ft above the white sand bays of the Turkish Riviera while soaring serenely in a sea plane.

What a way to take in Bodrum, renowned for its ancient history and celebrity visitors, such as actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as being a luxe holiday destination without A-list prices.

In fact, prices are incredibly reasonable, with the personal finance experts at cashlady.com only this week estimating that Turkey is a whopping 319 per cent cheaper to visit for Britons than it was a mere five years ago. 

The Bodrum Peninsula has long been popular with holidaymakers. In the 1970s, it was the epicentre of bohemian glamour with aristocrats, millionaires, writers and artists descending to work and play. And they’re still coming. 

Strolling through the marina, passing pink bougainvillea flowers on one side and traditional wooden gulet sailing boats on the other, I hear how Sting and Tottenham FC owner Joe Lewis have been spotted here of late. Naomi Campbell, meanwhile, was seen in town in uncharacteristically non-diva mode: sipping coffee alone, sans entourage and security.

‘They can’t act like a celebrity here, because everyone here is a celebrity,’ says Gozde, a glamorous local who, in her high heels and glitzy shades, isn’t fazed by the clientele who come.

I’m here before the summer season gets under way, which means that Bodrum’s Bar Street — the mile-long stretch of raucous bars and clubs along the coastline — is yet to gear up. But luckily I didn’t come to go clubbing.

Tucked in the north of the peninsula, I’m staying at the five-star, all-inclusive LuJo hotel, carefully designed as the perfect fly-and-flop bolthole. It’s a vast resort with 15 bars, ten pools and a coastline of private beach complete with cabanas and Maldivian-style beach beds.

The expansive layout means there’s no dawn rush to put towels on the loungers. It’s so quiet you can swim all alone to the edge of almost any of the infinity pools and gaze out with no other buildings in sight.

At dusk we dine on the beachfront at Gaia, the dreamy seafood restaurant that offers John Dory fish, crispy baby octopus and catch-of-the-day delicacies prepared with Aegean and Cretan herbs marinated with Bodrum’s famous extra-virgin olive oil.

It’s hard to believe this is an easyJet holidays package. There’s no hint of budget orange utility and instead it’s luxury in the form of the helipad on the rooftop, the chocolate bar, the LuJo-branded sea plane and concierge butlers known as ‘Joy Advisors’, who are always a quick WhatsApp away from attending to your every whim.

And you won’t feel guilty about dumping the children in the kids’ club. Instead of a soft-play prison the resort offers ceramic and wood workshops, an art studio and a music room.

Away from the relaxing delights of LuJo, however, we head over to Bodrum to take in the sights of the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre, which in summer hosts an international ballet festival and throws concerts under the stars.

The port city’s history dates back to the ancient Greeks in the 4th Century BC, and it is home to the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, an ornate king’s tomb that was one of the original Seven Wonders of the World.

Little of the original tomb can be seen today, but the remains were used by the Knights of St John to build the magnificent Bodrum Castle. They erected a tower for each of the English, French, German and Italian knights, and the English Lion’s Tower is resplendent with the coat of arms of King Henry IV.

More history is to be enjoyed moving inland on the peninsula. Hiking tour operators offer guided routes on the Carian Trail, named after the ancient Carian indigenous people of Asia Minor.

These hikes take in mountains and tranquil scenery as well as the ruins of ancient cities and their fortresses, some more than 3,000 years old. And walkers here are literally following in the footsteps of VIPs and royalty (including a pre-war President Zelensky, Nicolas Sarkozy and many an Arab sheikh).

Each bay on the Bodrum Peninsula has a different atmosphere. Day trippers could head south to Bitez, one of the largest and most popular family beaches lined with beach clubs and restaurants.

In the south, Gumbet is known as one of the liveliest nights out, while Guvercinlik Bay is home to LuJo and other sprawling, yet secluded, family resorts.

Further west, we amble around Yalikavak Marina, regarded as the ‘Turkish St Tropez’, where the Med Set dock their superyachts in summer and where Tom Hanks has been spotted recently on holiday.

For a brief few hours I am lucky enough to feel like one of the set myself, thanks to a morning cruise on LuJo’s luxury 19-metre catamaran. It’s my below deck superyacht fantasy: shoes off — so as not to spoil the teak, darling — and a glass of champagne on arrival, before switching to the palest of rosés to glug lazily on deck.

Lunch is a banquet fit for an Ottoman sultan while we cruise languidly around the Peninsula, past the olive groves and pine forests of Torba, and the ritzy Golturkbuku area with its coterie of ultra-expensive hotels. According to local legend, Kate Moss once checked out of a detox retreat here and checked straight into Macakizi, the luxury party hotel. Dropping anchor near Ikizadalar islet, we dive off one of the catamaran’s bows and I float in sea so salty I could have almost fallen asleep, floating effortlessly on the water and drifting all the way to Greece.

This is my first time in Turkey, and I’m blown away by how friendly everyone is. I can now see why the country is such a go-to for British tourists, who I’m told come here at the season’s bookends — in May to June and September to October — not just for the lower prices but to avoid mid-summer’s 40c heat. February’s earthquake, 700 miles away from here, was the worst natural disaster in Turkey’s modern history, killing almost 60,000 people.

This nation’s open-hearted people, therefore, are now desperate to get their country and tourism industry back on track, and are optimistically revving up for the start of the new holiday season. And while controversial President Erdogan’s monetary policy has caused havoc for the domestic economy, it means exchange rates for British holidaymakers are only getting stronger, currently at around 24 lira for every pound.

A pint will set you back around 60 lira. On our final evening we dine at Gemibasi overlooking the marina and I soak up the warm clatter and din of family celebrations, with babies cooing, Turkish tea glasses clinking and shots of raki being toasted with a resounding ‘Serefe!’, the Turkish word for ‘cheers’. You know a restaurant’s good if it’s packed to the rafters with locals.

Be forewarned, however: a Turkish meal is a marathon, not a sprint, with endless courses of sharing plates of fat sizzling prawns, piquant aubergine dips, potato salads and the freshest calamari. After hours of feasting, we end the meal and the weekend feeling thoroughly fed, watered and content with life. Gemibasi’s menu bears Bodrum’s unofficial slogan, a quote from a famous Turkish writer known as the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, who was exiled here in 1925 and fell in love with the peninsula. He wrote: ‘Don’t assume you’ll leave as you came. The others before you were the same. As they departed, they all left their souls in Bodrum.’

Serefe to that!

Andrea Pirlo SACKED as manager of Turkish club Fatih Karagumruk… with the Super Lig side sitting in ninth place with three games left after a tricky first year in charge for the Italian

• Andrea Pirlo has been fired as manager of Turkish club Fatih Karagumruk
• The Italian signed a one-year deal to lead the club last June, but found life tough
• Fatih Karagumruk sit in ninth place in Turkey’s Super Lig with three games left 

By Samuel Draper For Mailonline

Published: 13:14 EDT, 24 May 2023 | Updated: 13:32 EDT, 24 May 2023

Police investigate death of British six-month-old baby who choked ‘on food or similar’ at five-star Turkish hotel during family holiday

• Elizabeth Coffey was taken to hospital on Saturday following breathing troubles
• The six-month-old was unable to be saved despite the efforts of medical staff 

By Christian Oliver

Published: 10:55 EDT, 16 May 2023 | Updated: 12:27 EDT, 16 May 2023