Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Nov 08, 2025

Cancer faker who swindled more than £360,000 is ordered to pay back just £5

Cancer faker who swindled more than £360,000 is ordered to pay back just £5

A CANCER faker who conned wellwishers out of tens of thousands has been ordered to pay back just £5.

Nicole Elkabbas was sent to jail for two years and nine months last year after she was exposed for lying in an online fundraiser.

The mum-of-one tricked thousands into believing she had ovarian cancer

Meanwhile the con-artist spend well-wishers donations on her lavish lifestyle

Nicole was handed a jail sentence at Canterbury Crown Court


One fake appeal claiming she needed life-savingf treatment for ovarian cancer raised more than £52,000.

She splurged the cash on luxury foreign holidays and funding her gambling addiction.

Since the con artist's arrest, investigators calculated she raked in a staggering total of £360,000 through her criminal exploits.

But the shameless 44-year-old from Broadstairs, Kent, will only have to pay back a fiver in the next 28 days.

A court ruled the fraudster has no assets or any “realistic prospect” of paying back the whole sum at a confiscation hearing.

The mum-of-one tricked countless well-wishers into helping her afford life-saving ovarian cancer treatment that she never needed.

She made a Go Fund Me page that looked like it had been set up by her mum, who she cared for full-time.

The fake page was adorned with an old photo from a previous operation Nicole had had to remove her gall bladder months before.

As well as the frail hospital photo, the message on the page read that she was a "loving mum" who had been "recently diagnosed" but couldn't afford desperately needed medical care.

She listed a fake expert she claimed was treating her at a clinic in Barcelona while she was in fact enjoying the high life in Spain.

The "compulsive liar" funnelled the donations into her own accounts.

She used it to pay off mounting gambling debts and also splashed out on £3,000 Spurs box tickets and trips abroad.

At the time of her sentencing last year, Judge Mark Weekes said: "The deception was cunning and manipulative.

"You produced detail and at times a graphic account of the treatment you were receiving with a view to keeping those you had snared in your web of lies paying you money.

"You tugged at their heart strings. You made mention of your child to add to gild the lily still further and to attempt to wring more cash out of those you had deceived.

"All the while, you were gambling, enjoying shopping trips and luxuries in Italy and Spain at their expense."

He described Elkabbas' actions as "insulting to those who must genuinely and courageously face the battle against cancer".

One victim of Nicole's deception reported feeling "violated, used, betrayed, ashamed, embarrassed, humiliated, depressed and deflated".

Katie Taylor was duped into posting a link to heartless Nicole Elkabbas's GoFundMe page on her Facebook group community of more than 18,000 members.

She said she had "felt sick, repulsed, in shock, stunned and could not function properly" when police told her in 2018 that the fundraising campaign was fake.

Katie added: "I couldn’t believe this was true, I felt small and really, really stupid.

"I felt like Nicole must have been laughing in my face at how gullible I was, it was so humiliating.

"How could someone take advantage of me and our group members like this for so many months?"


A spokesperson for GoFundMe said: “All donations were refunded in 2019 when the misuse allegations were raised. Misuse counts for less than one 10th of 1% of all activity on GoFundMe and in the very rare case there is misuse, we refund donations."


She was charged with six counts of raud

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
MrBeast’s ‘Beast Land’ Arrives in Riyadh as Part of Riyadh Season 2025
Cristiano Ronaldo Asserts Saudi Pro League Outperforms Ligue 1 Amid Scoring Feats
AI Researchers Claim Human-Level General Intelligence Is Already Here
Saudi Arabia Pauses Major Stretch of ‘The Line’ Megacity Amid Budget Re-Prioritisation
Saudi Arabia Launches Instant e-Visa Platform for Over 60 Countries
Dick Cheney, Former U.S. Vice President, Dies at 84
Saudi Crown Prince to Visit Trump at White House on November Eighteenth
Trump Predicts Saudi Arabia Will Normalise with Israel Ahead of 18 November Riyadh Visit
Entrepreneurial Momentum in Saudi Arabia Shines at Riyadh Forward 2025 Summit
Saudi Arabia to Host First-Ever International WrestleMania in 2027
Saudi Arabia to Host New ATP Masters Tournament from 2028
Trump Doubts Saudi Demand for Palestinian State Before Israel Normalisation
Viral ‘Sky Stadium’ for Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup Debunked as AI-Generated
Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Israel ‘Virtually Impossible’ This Year, Kingdom Insider Says
Saudi Crown Prince to Visit Washington While Israel Recognition Remains Off-Table
Saudi Arabia Poised to Channel Billions into Syria’s Reconstruction as U.S. Sanctions Linger
Smotrich’s ‘Camels’ Remark Tests Saudi–Israel Normalisation Efforts
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Gain Structural Edge in Asian World Cup Qualification
Israeli Energy Minister Delays $35 Billion Gas Export Agreement with Egypt
Fincantieri and Saudi Arabia Agree to Build Advanced Maritime Ecosystem in Kingdom
Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN Accelerates AI Ambitions Through Major Partnerships and Infrastructure Push
IOC and Saudi Arabia End Ambitious 12-Year Esports Games Partnership
CSL Seqirus Signs Saudi Arabia Pact to Provide Cell-Based Flu Vaccines and Build Local Production
Qualcomm and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN Team Up to Deploy 200 MW AI Infrastructure
Saudi Arabia’s Economy Expands Five Percent in Third Quarter Amid Oil Output Surge
China’s Vice President Han Zheng Meets Saudi Crown Prince as Trade Concerns Loom
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
×