Foreign love rat fleeced me out of £1,000s … Tracy was hit by a £4,500 con but says her new Turkish toy boy won't fleece her like the last one did

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TRACY’S STORY APPEARED AS AN EXCLUSIVE IN ‘THE SUN’ AND THEN ‘LOVE IT!’ MAGAZINE. IF YOU’VE BEEN PART OF A SCAM YOU’D LIKE TO EXPOSE GET IN TOUCH.

Loved-up Tracy Lockett had barely started her holiday in Turkey when she stumbled across a note from another woman in her boyfriend’s bag.

It was during her 12th visit to see toyboy Bulent when she found the words ‘I’ll be waiting for you at the airport’ and ‘love you’ scribbled on an electronic flight ticket.

And the ticket’s date? When jobless Bulent Dogan claimed he’d been on a business trip abroad.

As the words, made blurry through teary eyes, sank in, Tracy felt sick and stupid.

But more bad news was coming for the 54-year-old, from Mossley, Greater Manchester.

Bulent, 37, admitted to cheating on Tracy, as well as SCAMMING her out of £4,500. He even said he could have taken more – because she was an easy target.

It’s Tracy who’s had the last laugh, though.

After launching a civil case against her former foreign lover, Bulent’s bank account has been FROZEN until £2,000 is paid back.

And she’s getting over him with the help of dashing Aziz, 35 – her NEW Turkish toyboy she insists is completely different.

It was February 2009 when Tracy first met Bulent, a Kurd living in Turkey, online.

She says: “He got in touch through a networking app on Facebook called ‘Are You Interested’.

“I thought ‘he’s cute’. Next thing, he’s sending me a friend request and we’re chatting away.”

After just three weeks of daily chats, Bulent told Tracy he loved her.

Tracy, who works in admin, says: “I told him he just liked me a lot and that he didn’t love me. Within weeks, though, I started to feel the same.

“I’d never been like that with a man. He was a charmer and I was taken in by it all. I was a mug.”

Smitten Tracy shrugged off early warning signs – Bulent claimed to work as a dialysis technician when in fact he just prepared and cleaned the machines – and, after eight months, flew to Istanbul to meet Bulent for the first time.

The couple clicked and spent a happy week together but, after a couple of drinks one evening, Bulent seemed distracted.

Tracy says: “I asked what was wrong and he said he needed my help.

“He didn’t have enough money to fly back to the other side of Turkey where he worked.

“I couldn’t leave him stranded and so paid for the ticket. It worked out around £50.”

Back home, Tracy and Bulent continued their virtual relationship. And three months later she flew out to spend Christmas with him.

Earning more than Bulent, it made sense for Tracy to pay for the hotels and half of the meals.

“I didn’t question a thing,” Tracy admits. “Especially after he sent me a beautiful bracelet in the post.

“I thought, ‘see, he does think a lot of me’. It made it all seem genuine.”

Over the next year, Tracy flew out four more times.

During this time, the clinic Bulent worked at closed down.

Concerned he wouldn’t be able to afford the internet costs to keep their relationship going, Tracy sent Bulent 200 lira, around £55, in the post.

Then, a couple of weeks before another visit, Tracy noticed a change in Bulent’s behaviour.

She says: “He was moping around and acting different.

“I asked what was wrong and he said there’d been a mix-up with a contract phone he’d had in his brother’s name.

“He owed more than 1,500 lira. His brother, Murat, could go to jail for it.

“I asked what he was going to do about it and he just said he’d sort it.”

She continues: “A couple of days later and I was worried about him. I thought he was going to get into trouble.

“I questioned him about the bill and he said he’d stolen the money from his mother!

“I thought, Jesus, it’s winter, they haven’t got much anyway and now he’s done this.

“I said I’d give him the money.”

Tracy handed over £1,000 to cover the bill and leave unemployed Bulent with a little extra.

A year later, Bulent unleashed another sob story.

He needed money to buy his father’s partner out of a retail business. The partner didn’t have a license to trade and refused to spend more money.

Tracy says: “I was concerned his father would end up losing his house – I was told he’d nearly lost it to gambling previously – so said to Bulent, if it comes to it, I’d give him a loan.

“Bulent said he’d get one himself, but I explained he wouldn’t be able to. He had no money, nothing.

“I said I’d give him £2,000, but I wanted every penny back.”

At first, Bulent turned down Tracy’s offer. But, two weeks later, he called her back.

“He wanted me to think very carefully about the loan and said he wouldn’t be angry if I said no,” Tracy recalls.

“I told him I’d loan the money. I took a half-day off work to go to the bank and transfer it over.

“I’ve got a good heart. I don’t like to see people in trouble or with nothing when I’ve got.”

Shortly before the couple’s three-year anniversary, Bulent went to Lithuania on a business course. While he was way, Tracy barely heard from him.

Tracy had enough on her mind, though.

A non-cancerous tumour had been found on the outside of her womb and she was told a hysterectomy was the best option.

Worried about her health, Tracy had previously added Bulent to her will. He would get £50,000 if anything happened.

But there was one last thing to look forward to before hospital – another trip to Turkey.

It was during the holiday, in October 2012, that Tracy found the flight ticket while putting painkillers in Bulent’s bag.

She says: “We’d had an argument and he walked out, saying he was going to his mates down the harbour.

“He came back and I was in tears by that time – I’d found the ticket.

“I shouted at him, ‘why didn’t you tell me you’ve got another woman?’ and he said he didn’t.

“I went to get the ticket out of his bag and he grabbed my left arm. ‘Don’t touch that’, he shouted. He’d never been like that with me.”

Tracy eventually called Bulent a scammer and he admitted to everything.

She says: “He said he was a scammer and that he could have taken more.

“I was stupid,” Tracy admits. “I just couldn’t believe someone would treat me so bad.”

The realisation she’d been fleeced, and cheated on, was heartbreaking for Tracy.

She returned to England and found the other woman on Facebook – she was worried she would be his next victim.

The woman never responded to Tracy’s messages, though.

Slowly, Tracy started to piece things together. And the truth was worse than she thought.

Bulent had been seeing the woman, who was from Norway, for 18 months.

She was even leaving her husband, the father of her four children, to be with him.

Bulent had been seeing another English woman, too, between 2008 and 2010. She’d only broken it off after discovering about Tracy.

“Everything made sense. All of the times he’d vanish and not be online for a week,” Tracy adds.

“I’m convinced he’d been with another woman or at least chatting to them.”

A stroke of luck came when Tracy discovered one of her Turkish friends was a lawyer.

Tracy explained what had happened and was told she had a case against Bulent. She could get the £2,000 loan back.

Tracy filed a lawsuit but, while waiting for a result, her situation took another strange twist.

“In the New Year [2013] I got a friend request on Facebook off Tracy Lee Lockett. Me!” Tracy says.

“The profile picture was Bulent with this other woman, who was now his wife.

“The request came with a message – don’t they make a lovely couple?”

Tracy declined the request and blocked the person, but it sparked the start of a hate campaign.

She started to get other strange friend requests, and was then made aware of a Facebook page littered with pictures of herself – taken from her Facebook page – along with horrible comments.

Bulent even became a member of the page and added to the insults.

“I can’t do anything about it,” Tracy says.

“I’ve tried reporting the group. Many people have. But something comes back to say nothing’s wrong with the content.”

Good news came in April 2013 when Bulent’s bank account was frozen and he was told he must pay Tracy the £2,000 loan back.

It’s just a fraction of the £4,500 she handed over to Bulent over three years, and the £16,000 she spent on the 12 trips to see him.

But Tracy is happy with the result, although she believes she’ll never see a penny.

Tracy also has another reason to be happy – she’s seeing another toyboy who lives in Turkey.

Tracy met Aziz Kolcu in February 2013 through another networking app on Facebook.

She says: “I’d booked tickets to Turkey to see my lawyer in the April and searched for people in the area I was staying.

“It was just to talk really. I didn’t intend for anything other than friendship.

“We got talking and he was such a nice person. Completely different to Bulent.

“In the April I said I was going out there and I asked to meet him. We met up and he was lovely.

“He’s very respectful. His family love me – I talk to them all the time. I’m not a dirty little secret. I felt like that with Bulent.

“He hasn’t asked or hinted for any money, either. If he did he wouldn’t be around.”

Tracy has just returned from another trip to see Aziz and, after 18 months together, their relationship is heating up.

“He said he wants to marry me, but I can’t see it happening. I’m not rushing into anything, anyway,” Tracy says.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends from all of this. They were sick and tired of hearing about Bulent and they could see what he was doing.

“Everyone’s still saying to be careful, but at the same time they can see how different Aziz is to Bulent.”

Tracy continues: “Looking back, I was stupid. I was blinded by love.

“I had a nagging feeling throughout my relationship with Bulent, but didn’t listen to it.

“If you have that feeling, get out.”

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