A mum who faked having cancer to dupe well-wishers out of thousands of pounds to fund her life of shopping and gambling has been ordered to repay just five pounds.
Nicole Elkabbas, 44, raised over £45,000 after falsely claiming she needed to pay for private ovarian cancer treatment in Spain - just days after being given the all clear by doctors.
The mum of one from Broadstairs, Kent, then splurged the cash on holidays, Tottenham Hotspur tickets, gambling and eating out at restaurants.
She has now been ordered to repay just £5 because she has no financial assets or ability to repay her nearly 700 victims.
She was only caught after her consultant oncologist discovered her fundraising page asking for donations seemingly set up by her mum Delores - days after examining her.
The former Harrods fashion consultant plead not guilty in her trial in November 2020, claiming she genuinely believed she had cancer.
Judge Mark Weekes of Canterbury Crown Court also jailed Ms Elkabbas for two years and nine months in November, describing her deception as "cunning and manipulative".
In sentencing, he 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."
Her GoFundMe page, titled 'Nicole Needs Our Help - Treatment', featured a frail photo taken after gall bladder surgery months before.
A message on the fundraising page said the "loving mum" who was "recently diagnosed" needed cash for life-saving treatment.
In the end the picture only sped up her capture after a now former friend and leading London gynaecologist stumbled across the GoFundMe page.
After quickly working out the photo was taken in Margate Hospital - not Spain - police contacted Barcelona's Teknon Clinic where she claimed to be staying.
The clinic said they had never heard of her, while the doctor treating her did not exist according to Spanish media.
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 one per cent of all activity on GoFundMe and in the very rare case there is misuse, we refund donations."
