Getty and Gofundme
- Nicole raised thousands in GoFundMe donations when she shared her ‘cancer’ fight
- Friends and strangers gave generously to help her fund her treatment
- But when her web of lies and deceit began to unravel, there was no denying she faked cancer
Lighting back tears, Nicole Elkabbas, then 39, was overcome with emotion.
It was 2018 and the mother of one was at a funeral to farewell one of her friends.
It was a sombre reminder of just how fragile life can be.
After the funeral, Nicole and another friend, Jo, went for coffee.
There, Nicole disclosed to her friend that she was facing an uncertain future, as she’d been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
And it wasn’t the only health issue she’d faced of late either.
Nicole had also recently undergone surgery to have her gallbladder removed.
But when her abdominal pain still persisted, she’d sought the help of a gynaecologist.
Now, she explained to Jo, she was in a fight for her life.
Sadly, it seemed the cancer couldn’t be treated in the UK, where she lived, so Nicole needed to go overseas urgently to Spain for a ‘wonder drug.’
‘But today’s not about me,’ Nicole said bravely.
When Nicole’s mum Delores created a fundraising page for her daughter that same month, Jo kindly donated nearly $4000.
As a cancer survivor herself, Delores could relate to the struggle of being a mother and having to attend countless medical appointments.
I know the true fears she is facing, all the fears that come with having cancer and being a mum and trying desperately to keep things normal, she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Alongside the heartfelt plea for help, was a picture of Nicole looking worse for wear in a hospital bed.
After the fundraising page was shared online, good Samaritans rushed to help, and thousands were donated to the struggling mum.
Katie Taylor, the founder of The Latte Lounge, an online group for women over 40, helped to drum up support for Nicole.
She even offered to start a media campaign, but Nicole refused, not wanting to invade her family’s privacy.
Keeping people updated with her journey, Nicole posted pictures of her inside the Spanish hospital as she received treatment.
But one of her friends, Nicholas Morris, who worked as a doctor, noticed something strange.
Peering closely at the wallpaper in one photo, he recognised it as the Spencer Hospital in Margate, Kent, where Nicole had gone for the gallbladder surgery – not Spain, as she’d claimed.
Surely there had to be some mistake?
Another surprised doctor was oncologist Dr Graham Ross, a gynaecologist who’d treated Nicole the previous January.
He’d determined she had a dermoid cyst and established from her blood test tumour-markers that there were no signs of cancer.
Curiously, he noticed that the GoFundMe had been set up just a few days after he’d met Nicole.
Suspicious that things weren’t adding up, Dr Ross alerted police.
They went to speak with Nicole, who confirmed she’d had an ovary removed, was battling ovarian cancer, and receiving chemotherapy.
An unmarked blister pack was discovered in her home, which she claimed was a ground-breaking cancer drug.
But when it was sent for testing, the lab results came back inconclusive.
Nicole gave the police a detailed timeline including where she’d gone for treatment, who she had interacted with, specific medication she’d taken, test results, details of how much medical treatment she needed on a regular basis, and the exact cost implications per month.
She also mentioned Teknon Hospital in Spain where she said she regularly went for treatment with Dr Suarez.
Police were so convinced by Nicole they wondered if they’d made a mistake.
But when they contacted the Spanish clinic where Nicole claimed to be treated, they insisted they’d never heard of her or Dr Suarez.
Jo refused to believe it when a friend told her Nicole had been faking cancer.
There had to be some mistake.
Why would anyone in their right minds lie about having cancer?
Jo had her friend’s back and continued to support her from what seemed like a cruel bid to smear her reputation.
Yet as Nicole’s web of lies and deceit began to unravel, there was no denying she was a con-woman, and she was arrested.
She was had faked cancer and deceived, cheated and scammed Jo and nearly 700 people out of generous donations.
When Nicole Elkabbas, then 42, appeared in Canterbury Crown Court in November 2020 charged with fraud and possession of criminal property, the scale of her sickening scam was laid bare.
Despite her continued insistence she was ill, and her denial of the offences, the truth was she’d never had cancer.
Instead she’d pocketed around $90,000 to pay for a lavish lifestyle, spending thousands on extravagant holidays to Rome, Madrid and Barcelona.
She’d frittered away money gambling in casinos and on bingo, splurging on shopping sprees, hair extensions, restaurants and $7000 on a luxury box to watch a soccer match.
Worse, it was revealed Nicole had targeted people on Facebook, messaging them repeatedly for money for her ongoing treatment.
In court, Elkabbas was branded a ‘compulsive liar’ and her actions ‘beyond disgraceful’.
Katie Taylor, of Latte Lounge, said she wept for days after learning she and others had been conned.
Michelle Booker, who’d lost a friend to ovarian cancer, told the court she had donated almost $12,000 to the fundraiser saying, ‘Every time I hear her name my stomach is in knots and I feel stressed and repulsed again.’
The defence said Nicole had been ‘in the grip of a gambling addiction’ at the time of the offences.
‘Her normally good nature became overwhelmed by a compulsion to gamble,’ barrister Oliver Kirk said.
But Judge Mark Weekes said Nicole had fought ‘tooth and nail’ to convince everyone she had cancer, describing her as ‘cunning and manipulative’.
Nicole Elkabbas was found guilty of fraud by false representation and possession of criminal property and jailed for two years and nine months.
In sentencing, Judge Weekes said, ‘You produced detailed and at times graphic accounts of the treatment you were receiving with a view to keeping those you had snared in your web of lies paying you money.’
‘All the while, you were gambling, enjoying shopping trips and luxuries in Italy and Spain at their expense,’ he added.
Elkabbas was ordered to repay just $10 because she had no financial assets or ability to repay her victims.
The penalty was so low in the hoped it’d deter Elkabbas from another scam to raise the money to pay a higher amount.
Since then, investigators probing her accounts have calculated she made $720,000 due to criminal exploits.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe said after the conviction, ‘All donations were refunded last year when the misuse allegations were raised.’
In a sad twist, Elkabbas’ mother, Delores, died of cancer in December 2021.
A still shocked Jo, then 50, said in the documentary The Big Swindle, ‘It was all calculated from the beginning. She knew who to target, she knew what to say.’
