Spurred on by low prices for units in purpose-built apartment blocks or "holiday villages", Brits are all greedy ears, especially when they appear to be getting a good deal from a friend of the developer (who is often a crooked sub-contractor or a commission-hungry estate agent). Any doubts are quelled by an apparently independent lawyer, who lets them sign a contract which leaves them with no rights, no title deeds and ultimately no property. They put a deposit usually worth €20,000-€40,000 in a bank account later cleared by the estate agent or sub-contractor, who then disappears. The Turkish court system is too intimidating and expensive to tackle. Most foreigners never recover their stolen money. 

For a lucky few, Kartal saves the day by issuing injunctions, redrafting the contracts with his lawyer wife Acelya, and carrying the project to completion. The hapless Brit at least ends up with a property, albeit at a higher price than anticipated.

So far this year in the Bodrum and Milas areas alone, more than €400 million of real estate has been sold, predominantly to non-locals. Of these sales Kartal estimates about 5-10 per cent have been scammed. The scammers "disappear" only to come back richer and more brazen than ever. While local authorities are wise to them, tourists are not. 

Locals are pragmatic. "These aren't scams. They are business," says Hasan Bey, a pharmacist. If you are foolish enough to put a large amount of money in a private bank account without due investigation, you are considered fair game.

There are plenty of opportunities to buy a property legitimately, and much of the coast is beautiful and unspoiled. Kalkan is an eyesore without parallel, with a fan base to match, and one admittedly churlish way of looking at the scamming phenomenon is that it's divine retribution.