All language subtitles for The.Big.Swindle.S01E01.The.Fake.Cancer.Scammer.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[Jo Mapp]
This is the cafe
that Nicole Elkabbas

brought me to
when she told me
she had cancer.

I was devastated.

I put myself in her shoes.

If I was in that position,
how would feel?

There was no type of
treatment in the UK for
what she needed.

And she said she would
need to go abroad.

But that we needed to
raise some funds.

[Marc Hebden] There was
an instant awareness

about raising
as much money as possible

to be able to keep
her alive.

[Marc Cananur]
Her digital footprint online

was an individual
who was professional,

was someone who you
wouldn't suspect,

was anything other than
a decent member
of the community.

Lo and behold,
she was the polar opposite.

[Jo] It was all calculated
from the beginning.

She knew who to target.
She knew what to say.

Was it... pure greed?
Was it debt?

What was it?

I fell for the oldest trick
in the book.

[interviewer]
Comfy?

Absolutely.

My name is Jo Mapp.

So we were in Thanet,

which is Broadstairs, Margate
and Ramsgate.

Broadstairs is a really
lovely seaside town.

Lots of nice,
little restaurants.

Nice, little scene going
on over there.

Few bars and things.

It's a really nice,
little place to live.

I met Nicole when I moved
back from Spain 11 years ago.

Um, my son, youngest son,
was three at the time.

So he started at the
nursery around the corner.

Um, so within...

a couple of weeks
I'd been back, I met Nicole,

because she had a son
who was also
at Montessori nursery.

[Jo] I always thought Nicole
seemed like a really,
really good mom.

Um, she was definitely
involved...

very heavily with his
education.

Um, she had told me
at one point that

she was gonna send
her son to private school.

And when I questioned
how expensive
that would be,

she told me that he
was very gifted in math

and that he'd get
a scholarship.

She's very attractive,
very well turned out.

She is a Londoner.

She also had connections
to Spain.

I think her family had been
living in Spain
or something like that.

So we had so much
in common,

um, that we just hit it off
straight away.

She's quite funny,
she's quite vivacious.

We kind of got on...
pretty well.

[interviewer]
How are you today?

I'm good, I'm good.
Thanks.

My name's Marc Hebden.

Um... I'm a... musician.

I met Nicole in a pub
in Ramsgate.

I remember her to be
very, sort of, eloquent.

Seemed... well-educated,

and came over...

strongly as a business woman.

She asked me what
I did,

and, um...

she said, "I know a lot
of people that business,"

"and there's all sorts
of things and events
that I'm gonna be promoting...

in the future,
in the Thanet area."

Nicole told me that
she had formerly worked
at Harrods

and so had I.

In fashion or buying.

She was really friendly
with Mohamed al-Fayed

that she knew him
really well.

Um...

And he was, sort of,
on speed dial

and she used to talk
to him quite a lot.

And she was really well
thought of within the Harrods,
kind of, brand

and within the Harrods family.

She was always a bit elusive,

because she...
wasn't doing that...

job anymore.

So it was really unclear
what she was doing.

But she did always seem
so quite well-groomed,
well turned out.

[Marc]
She came over as very
well connected.

And she did namedrop
a few people in the music
business that I knew of.

She would talk about
Sacha Baron Cohen.

She also spoke about
some actors and comedians.

Nicole tries to position
herself

with people who are
prosperous, who are...

successful, who are quite
wealthy.

So I think by association,
she tries to portray
a similar image.

An image of somebody
who is well-to-do,

somebody who is successful.

[Marc]
Nicole mentioned where
she lived in Broadstairs.

And it's a very nice street.

[Michael Drummond]
It wasn't just Nicole
that lived in Broadstairs,

her mother, who she
was very close to, lived there
as well.

And they were often
seen together out,
walking about

and spending time together.

Couple of years into
knowing Nicole, she, um...

had told me that she had
moved to quite a big house.

So, um, she invited me
around

for a playdate with the boys.

Um, and when I arrived,

it was, it was a block
of flats.

And I kind of thought
that was odd.

But she had said, "Oh, this is
a friend's flat that I'm
living in for a while."

'He's let me have it
rent-free while I'm waiting
for my house to be finished."

[Marc] One day,
I was talking to Nicole,

there was a big fight
coming up.

She said, "I'm gonna
put some money on this
boxer

and it's gonna be
about £10,000."

I know some quite
heavy hitters with gambling.

I mean, I've seen people
win 50 grand before, but...

Um... so...

Okay, you know,
people do it.

If they have the money,
they do it.

Nicole had claimed
to Marc

that she'd bet £10,000
on a boxing match.

I think this is an insight
into her personality.

She's obviously somebody that
likes to take risks.

So high risk,
high reward activities.

It also shows to a degree
that she

has a lack of fear in her
day-to-day living.

Nicole was active in
the local community
in Broadstairs,

organizing charity events
and raising money for good
causes.

And that's how people
thought of her.

Connecting them with causes
that they would
want to support.

Nicole had told me that
she was a comedy actress.

[in Scottish accent]
Anyway, so yesterday,
I spoke to Dave,

and I've, kind of, come
to the conclusion

that Dave and I
just didn't work.

[in Caribbean accent]
Everywhere we can go,

me can't find anybody
that me cook for

some serious dumpling.

[in Middle Eastern accent]
Ask me, why you don't want

to come down
to other side of London?

It's me near...

I thought she was quite
talented.

And I thought, well, she must
have had some sort of training
in this.

[Jo] Nicole had asked
whether she could book out
Ramsgate Musical

for her comedy event.

And she was, sort of,
headlining as the star
of the show.

She would try out
her comedy

and get other bands
and local musicians

to get involved as well.

So she could, you know,
highlight them.

"Around the World
in One Hour."

It was gonna be a comedy
from around the world.

It was Nicole standing up,
doing various accents.

She told me that
sort of famous people
would be attending.

She gave me, um...

a guest list

that people that she thought
might come along.

Um... and she had put things
on this

such as like the Appletons,

Meg Matthews,

and all of these,
kind of, stars.

Even though Nicole
considered herself
the headline act.

I think that Nicole that
night really enjoyed

the attention,

everybody looking at her,
being the center of what
was going on.

She enjoyed the fact
that she had put on
an event.

And everybody was telling
her how great it was

to highlight the work of
the young people in
our area.

So there were no alarm bells
for me during that time.

I don't know whether anything
that she told me was true now.

I don't know whether she
really was from London.

I don't know whether
she had connections in Spain.

Her whole history
could be made up.

None of it could be true.

Or some of it could be true,
I don't know.

[Jo] Nicole and I
were pretty close.

It felt really nice to have...

somebody that
I could relate to.

She approached me about
a gala boxing event night

that she wanted to hold.

[Marc]
She said to me that she
was going to be doing some...

charity raising events.

One in particular for
the Broadstairs Town Shed.

You know, a really... a really
good thing.

'cause
the Broadstairs Town Shed

is about elderly men

being able to do carpentry
and different things.

And also to be able
to connect with different
people.

[Jo]
The event took place in the
Winter Gardens in Margate.

All her connections in
the boxing industry were
going to be there.

And there was going
to be an auction.

They were going to sell
off tickets for the night.

And it was gonna be,
sort of "booked out."

I was involved in a
very serious road incident

several years back.

Um, and I lost mobility.

Then I realized at the time,
and especially after,

how quickly one can
become depressed
and how it can spiral.

Nicole comes across really
well in the promotional video.

She seems like somebody
who's credible,
who's believable.

She's quite eloquent
in the way that she speaks.

So to all intents
and purposes,

there's no reason to suspect
there's anything

sinister or fraudulent
going on behind the scenes.

So when I went to the Shed
and I saw the work
that they do,

and how it changes lives,

Um...

I realized, "Gosh, that was
a similar situation a lot of
them were in that I was in."

So I could relate.

Um, and I thought, well,
how can I actually help?

When we look at Nicole's
involvement in the promotional
boxing video,

it shows another aspect
to her personality.

Not only is she trying
to portray herself
as somebody who's

quite glamours and successful,

but also that she has
a socially conscious side.

So she's going out of
her way to contribute
to this event

to try and raise money
for charity.

I went to the boxing night
at Winter Gardens
in Margate, yeah.

[indistinct chatter]

I remember rightly
something went wrong
with the boxing night though.

Although there were
some bouts,

it didn't quite pan out
as it should've been.

There were meant to be
certain celebrities...

uh, arriving.

But I didn't see any.

It wasn't a success.
There weren't many
people there,

and there certainly...
it wasn't the
star-studded gala boxing event

that she had been promoting.

A few years ago,
a mutual friend of ours
passed away.

And we were at her funeral.

Um...

So, literally, just as
we walked outside
to view the flowers

and to talk to the family,

Nicole told me then that
her cancer had returned.

And I could remember
thinking,

"Oh my God," you know,
"I didn't know you had
cancer."

"What kind of friend am I
that I've missed something
as big as that?"

I was like, "Oh, my God,
I'm so sorry."

The fact that she was
talking about cancer

resonated
massively with me.

Because I had lost a friend,
I think, less than a year
before.

And I just put myself
in her shoes,
"How would I feel?"

If the prospect of my life
been shortened and not
spending,

that time with my son,

how would I feel
about that?

I think the very fact
that Nicole approached
other people

at a funeral is quite telling.

She would've known
that this is
a very vulnerable time.

People are quite
contemplative
about mortality at a funeral,

their own and other people's.

So they might be more
generous.

They might have heightened
sense of empathy at that time.

[Jo] I left the funeral
feeling pretty devastated
for her.

Um, and within a couple
of days,

I was on the phone
to her, asking her
how I could help her?

If there's anything that
I could do or the community
could do?

She asked me to meet
her in a friend's cafe,

which I did.

Um, so we sat there and...

I was crying.

And she was just
amazingly strong.

She was saying that
she's completely changed
her diet.

She has done so much
research

that she knows that
there's a cure out there
for her.

But the particular medicine,
the medication that she
needed,

and the treatment that
she needed
was really expensive.

So from there, we began
to formulate little plans

about how we could make
money, how we could raise
money.

There had been a GoFundMe page
set up by her mom,

saying that she wanted
to save her daughter.

When I read through it,
it was quite heartbreaking.

She spoke so tenderly
of what a great daughter
her Nicole was.

Um, and it really tugged
on your heartstrings.
It was---

Particularly me, because we
were the same age.

Our children were
the same age.

I just remember the picture
of Nicole

in hospital with the drips
and everything else

coming out of her body
and her looking very
unwell.

And saying, she needed
funds for medicines.

I think it was 40,000 euros
for the surgery.

And then she needed...

about £13,000 a month

for the medicine.

And it was over
quite a few months.

She had written every
medical term down.

She had a list of medication
that she would need.

Where she would need
to go for treatment.

Where the best treatment was.

She knew everything.

She raised the subject
about needing to get
some funds desperately.

Um, and that she needed
funds by X amount, like,
a certain day

to secure the drugs
that she needed.

One day, she called me
at home.

And she was in a panic,

saying that she needed,
I think it was,
£5,000 by Friday

and could I give it to her?

Because money hadn't
come through that
she needed for treatment

and she was in a bit
of a pickle.

Um, and I said to her,
I don't have that kind of
money just at hand.

So I told her that I had
probably a couple of thousand
at the most

that I could put into
her account.

But it wasn't my money.

So I needed the money
back by the Friday,

which she agreed to.

The Friday came and I got
in contact with her
and said I need the money.

She said, just give
me the weekend,
which was fine.

Um, and then by the weekend,
she put the money back
into my account.

[Jo] Nicole went off
for treatment.

And she had said that
she had to go to a specialist
hospital,

specialist cancer treatment
hospital,

they were really advanced
and they were in Spain.

So Nicole was updating
everybody,

um, via the GoFundMe page.

And she was always
putting on...

very inspirational messages.

She never felt sorry
for herself.

She was always,
"I'm a fighter,"
"I'm doing this..."

Um, you know,
"An extra day is amazing."

It was really inspirational.

As Nicole
first starts telling people

she's having multiple
rounds of chemotherapy,

she talks about this
so-called wonder drug

that would be really able
to help her.

What Nicole was saying
about being diagnosed

and needing treatment
for cancer resonated with
people.

The people she told
in Broadstairs

were really affected by it.

Regular posts would
appear on it.

And these were really
shared among the local
community.

It really felt like
the Broadstairs community

wrapped their arms
around Nicole

and brought her along
with them.

People would share it,
people would repost it.

And that only resulted
in more donations.

It's not unusual for
us to be asked for help
on social media.

There are often requests
for different types of
charity.

I think Nicole has positioned
herself

very well in this, kind of,
context.

So she comes across through
the posts as being

somebody with children.

She's described
as a beautiful daughter.

So I think this really pulls
at one's heartstrings.

It makes...

the average person less
likely to just scroll past

and actually engage with
her story.

And feel generous
and feel this empathy with
her situation.

And when you see a victim
like Nicole,

who supposedly has this
cancer diagnosis,

there's also a time pressure.

People know that they
want to help.

If they want to donate
to the cause,

there's not much time

if he's actually genuinely
unwell.

So there's a psychological
added layer of pressure.

Nicole and I were talking
and she mentioned

that she had had to be
operated on in Margate.

I was, um, obviously...

quite devastated really,

as you would be for
anyone that you knew.

'Cause... you know, it's
something that's...

you know, you just
don't know where it's
gonna go.

So, yeah, of course, I felt
for her greatly.

And she said to me,

"I'm going to be having
the operation tomorrow."

So I thought, right,
I'll just leave it one day

and then I'll go over
and visit her.

She said, "Oh, there's
no need for that.

We don't want a lot
of people here.

My mother's here with me.
And I got family here.

And I don't really
wanna make--"

You know, "I need to rest.

I don't wanna make
a big thing of this."

Then I thought,
what I'll do is I'll go up,

I'll take a little bunch
of flowers.

I remember the nurse
that was on duty,

sort of, getting out this
clipboard.

And there were quite
a few names on it.

She said, "We haven't
got anyone here of that name."

And I said,

"Yeah, she had an operation
for an ovarian cancer
yesterday."

And she said, "No.
There's... there's nobody
here of that name."

During the whole period

that Nicole was suffering
from cancer,

she had, um...

she had done various
events, I think so.

Or that people had done
some things for her.

And the main thrust of
the whole, um...

sort of, donation was going
to GoFundMe.

So lots of people were
sharing her story on their
page.

And they were going to
the GoFundMe page

to donate to her.

Um, during this time, she was
mainly talking to me about
keeping mentally focused,

talking to me about
eating really well,

juicing, putting lots of
inspirational pictures up
on her Instagram.

[Marc]
In the community where I live,

there was an instant, um...

sort of awareness about
raising as much money
as possible for Nicole

to be able to keep
her alive.

and a lot of people

donated a lot of money.

I didn't have any money
at the time,

so I think I gave 30 quid
for her. [chuckles]

But if I'd had money,

I would've definitely tried
to give more, you know.

I gave it
to the GoFundMe page.

Good friend of mine

who had actually

never met Nicole,

but, I think, knew of her
through boxing circles,

donated £1,000.

He sent it
directly to her account.

[Jo] I came to hold an event
at Ramsgate Music Hall.

So my idea was to just put

a big fundraising bowl
on the bar

because Nicole was away.

She told me she was ill,
so she couldn't attend.

Um, and Ramsgate Music Hall,
uh, customers

put money into, um,
a big pot for her.

And I think
at the end of that night,

we had a couple
of hundred pounds.

When we look
at Nicole's opportunity,

this is quite vast,
it's quite widespread.

She's put out
these social media posts

knowing that, potentially,
they could spread
across the entire globe.

There's lots
of potential victims

that might donate
small amounts of money,

but over time, in totality,

it could actually be
quite a big payday for her.

I think the GoFundMe page
got up to about 600 people
donating in the end,

um, and I think there was
about £45,000 in there.

[Jo] After all the money
was raised,

Nicole was updating everybody,
um, via the GoFundMe page,

and she was always
putting on

very inspirational messages.

She never felt sorry
for herself,

she was always,
"I'm a fighter,"

"I'm doing this,"
um, you know,

"An extra day is amazing."

So there were no alarm bells
for me during that time.

However, when she came back
from her treatment,

[clicks tongue]
she came to see me

round Ramsgate Music Hall
again one evening,

and this sounds awful,
but she looked amazing.

She had...
Her skin was beautiful,

her hair was amazing,
she'd lost weight, she just...

And I didn't want
to say to her,

"My God, you've lost weight,
but you look
absolutely amazing."

I didn't know what to say
because I thought it was,
you know,

a really delicate situation.

And it was a friend
that said to me,

"That doesn't seem right,
does it,

that she would look
that well after such..."

'Cause her treatment,
apparently, was quite invasive
and quite difficult.

[Drummond]
The hospital bed picture
is key in this case.

She puts it up
on the GoFundMe page,

the GoFundMe page
goes all the way
around Broadstairs,

this close community,

and it makes its way
to one of the doctors
who treated her.

They look at the picture
and think,
"Something's not right,"

and they inform the police.

So we first became aware
of Nicole Elkabbas

as a result of a referral
from the NHS.

A referral
as a result of a concern

that Nicole Elkabbas
was claiming

that she had ovarian cancer.

'Cause we had Nicole Elkabbas

on a GoFundMe webpage
which was live,

showing her lying
in a hospital bed,

essentially looking
really ill.

We needed to be
categorically sure

that Nicole was not suffering
with cancer.

Dr. Ross had raised an alarm
because he had treated her

in December 2017
for gall bladder removal

at a hospital in Margate,

and Nicole would claim
that she was suffering
with cancer.

So like any diligent,
responsible NHS professional,

she was tested
for various forms of cancer
as well.

Categorically, it came back
that she was not suffering

with any
ovarian cancer whatsoever.

She was merely there
for gall bladder removal.

When we looked
at the GoFundMe page,
it had an image

which suggested
that she was abroad,
having treatment.

However, like any detective,

if you look
at the fine-grained detail

behind the obvious image
of Nicole,

you'd see certain things

like the 3-pin plug,
which suggests
it was in the UK.

We went to that hospital,

we identified
the distinctive wallpaper,
we identified the room,

and lo and behold,

that confirmed
that Nicole was there
for gall stone removal

as opposed to suffering
with ovarian cancer.

So now we were satisfied

that, in fact,
we were dealing with a fraud.

It was really important
to make sure

that the GoFundMe page
was stopped

to prevent further people
losing money.

These donors were donating
on a daily basis,

so we reached out to GoFundMe

and made sure
that that website page
was shut down immediately.

So we knew
where Nicole was living.

She was living with her son,
mom and dad,

a very nice family home
in Broadstairs.

So we went

early one morning,

knocked on that door,
and lo and behold,

the mom opened the door
and had no knowledge
of this scam

because they thought
their daughter
was suffering with cancer,

so it had a massive shock
on them immediately.

And to be confronted
first thing in the morning

with police officers
at your door,

it was really
a stressful experience.

So really delicate,
sensitive situation for us.

Nicole was arrested
immediately for fraud,

Nicole was brought
into custody
at a local police station

and she was interviewed
in the presence
of a solicitor,

and the investigating
officers.

She was essentially
very convincing.

An individual who is adamant
she was suffering
with ovarian cancer,

provided the timeline
around where she'd gone,

and when
and who she'd interacted with.

She mentioned
the Teknon hospital in Spain

where she was regularly going
for treatment.

She mentioned a Dr. Suarez
who was treating her

to, hopefully, prevent herself
from dying of cancer.

Now she was that convincing.

In fact, when
the investigating officers
came back to me,

they were concerned, in fact,

that we may be dealing
with a cancer patient
as opposed to a fraudster.

She listed specific medication
which she was having,

test results,

details of how much
medical treatment she needed

on a regular basis.

And real finite detail
about exact cost implications
per month.

[Jo] A friend sent an article
over to me where it said

that, um, "Local woman,"

and it mentioned
Nicole Elkabbas

had been, um,
arrested for fraud,

saying that she had
got everybody

to believe she had cancer

and raised
a whole lot of money,

but hadn't used
any of the money
for cancer treatment.

I didn't believe it.

I absolutely
didn't believe it.

And friends were saying to me,
"But it's in black and white."
And I was like, "No.

They are saying
she's been arrested for that,

they haven't proven anything."

Um, so I absolutely
still didn't believe it.

I wasn't really suspicious
myself, to be honest,

until I actually heard
that she'd been nicked.

I wasn't quite sure
whether to believe it
at first or not,

and I thought it could've been
some hearsay locally

or, you know,
a rumor had began.

But it quickly escalated.

After I read the article,

um, which I didn't believe,

I sent Nicole a message
on Facebook.

And she said to me that, um,

"Don't worry, darling,
the truth will come out.

I can't talk right now
because I've been told

I'm not allowed
to talk right now.

But keep believing in me."

So during
the initial interview,
Nicole did confirm

that the image
on the GoFundMe website
was, in fact, her

at the Spencer wing
of the hospital in Thanet

having gall bladder removal
in 2017.

She finally accepted that.

And she did accept that it was
somewhat misleading

because it suggested
that she was suffering
with cancer.

But to quote, she said,

"It was the only image
I had at the time,
which is why I used it."

Clearly, she put that picture
on that website

solely for people to think

she was seriously ill
and needed medical help,

and financial help from them
to get over this cancer.

So that was a real key point

that we needed to cover
as part of the investigation,

to show her deception,
her deceptive mind.

Nicole was clearly
a fantasist.

She has these
very grandiose ideas

and she has
this ultimate confidence

in herself and her ability
to pull off these lies.

We explained to Nicole
that as part
of our investigation,

we were gonna look
into her financial history.

She was quite deadpan to that.

Her reaction was very much
stone-faced.

No... concerns.

But as time went on,

lots of other people
were saying

they'd always had suspicions
about her, um...

And just the noise
became louder
and louder and louder

to the point where
I couldn't really ignore it.

Um, so I did,
once again, confront her

on... On Facebook.

It was all over the news,
it was all over the papers.

I was absolutely gutted,
to be honest,

and I... And I thought,

"Wow."

I was noticing
Nicole's Facebook page

was becoming
increasingly weirder.

So there would be long,
rambling messages

about "The truth
will come out," um,

"People should feel sorry
for me,"

and all of this stuff,

and it was, kind of,
rubbing me up the wrong way

because she still
wasn't saying

yes or no,

"I've lied," or "I've done
something wrong."

So I put a message
underneath one of her posts

that just said, you know,

"All of the above
is very touching and moving,

but did you go to Spain
to have cancer treatment?

That's all I need to know."

She answered me
in a private message,

which really... Alarm bells.

"Why are you answering me
in a private message?"

So I copied
what she had written

and I took it back
on to a public forum,

and I said,
"This is a public space.

You're talking about,
we all need to feel sorry
for you

and this is going wrong,
that's going wrong.

I've asked you, just tell me,

did you go to Spain
for your treatment
for cancer?"

And that was it.

She sent me a message,
saying to me,

"If this is triggering
for you..."

Then I was like,
"Do not patronize me.

This is not triggering
for me.

What this is
is me catching you out.

You were quite happy to have

little private conversations
with me.

I'm asking you, publicly,
just let me know."

And, um...

I then, she...
She started saying
if this is triggering for me,

um, maybe, you know,
we need to talk,

and I just like, "No.

No, I'm not interested.
You cannot...

You are not telling me
what I need to hear."

So I just cut her off.
So I blocked her.

And that was that.

Cut dead.

I was, kind of, at the point
where I just thought,

"Well, until found guilty

and everything
is being looked at properly,

I can't really make my mind up
that something's
going on here, you know.

[Jo] My stomach turned,
and you feel like the blood
drains out of you.

Never in my wildest dreams
would I think

that someone
would be twisted enough

to lie about having cancer.

Um, and to sit opposite me
and watch me cry.

So she was explaining to me

that she needed treatment.
I was crying.

[Cananur]
When we broke down
Nicole's expenditure,

what we identified actually
was an individual

who had
a really lavish lifestyle.

Trips abroad,
trips out in London.

And also, which stood out,

was an almost
£4,000 expenditure

on a private box
at Tottenham Hotspur
football club.

Wow, this wasn't an individual
that was using
that money wisely

for medical treatment.

This was an individual
who was financing
her own lavish lifestyle.

[Jo] A friend of mine said
that he often goes over
to the casino,

and he had seen her
over there

sort of using
quite a bit of money.

And I was like, "No, no,
it's not her style."

She's not that trashy,
she's quite elegant,

and, you know,
I think quite sophisticated.

I couldn't really imagine her
at the local casino.

What we also uncovered,
as a result
of her financial activity,

was someone, in fact,
who was addicted to gambling.

In 2018, she was spending
up to £60,000 a year

at a local casinos
and online gambling websites.

So this was an individual
who was suffering
not with cancer,

but with a serious
gambling addiction.

When we look at how
somebody like Nicole,

who, on the surface,
seems quite successful,

ends up in a situation
where she's conning
even people that she knows,

we have to ask, "How and why
does that happen?"

We know that she was spending
very large amounts

so it's very possible
that she formed
an addiction to this

and felt like she kept on
having to commit these cons

just so that
she can make up the money
to feed her habit.

[Jo] After I flopped Nicole
on Facebook,

um, I was contacted
by GoFundMe

that, um...

And they told me
they were gonna
give the money back.

The money came back,
but obviously,
that was so difficult for me

because it was a night
where people had just come in

and put bits and pieces
of money.

I didn't know
who it belonged to.

So I just put a thing
on my Facebook

saying, "If everybody's happy,

I'm gonna donate this
to a charity,"
and that's what we did.

So I got a message
from the police
just after I'd found out.

They just asked me, um,

about the larger amounts
that I had donated

because I donated them
directly to her bank account.

I told them that
that money came back,

uh, which was baffling to me.

[Dr. Das] Nicole borrowed
£2,000 off Jo,

and then returned it
fairly quickly.

And we have to ask ourselves
why she did this.

It's possible that she felt
an element of guilt
at that time,

but it's also very feasible
that she was actually playing
the long game.

So she's trying to gain
more confidence
from her friend,

knowing that she could
probably wrangle

more money out of her
in the future.

[Cananur] So Nicole
was brought in
for a second interview.

We put it to her,
transaction by transaction,

that that money, in fact,
was to support
both her lavish lifestyle

and a gambling addiction.

We also put it to Nicole,
damning evidence,

as a result of the police
making enquiries

with the hospital in Spain,

that, in fact,
Nicole was never a patient
in that hospital

and, in fact, that Dr. Suarez,

who she stated
was treating her,
didn't exist.

Now at this point,
you would think

Nicole would put her hands up
and accept

that she was lying, but no.

Throughout that interview,
no remorse,

no recognition whatsoever

of all the individuals
that she defrauded.

Merely someone who,
in her own head,

was a cancer victim
who was gaining money

solely for medical treatment,

which we argued was because
of her gambling addiction.

So, at the end
of that second interview,

she was bailed,
pending a decision

by the Crown
Prosecution Service.

Now they came back
reasonably quickly
with a decision

that they were happy
there was enough
overwhelming evidence

to charge Nicole with fraud
by false representation

and to take it to court.

[Drummond] Trials
on fraud cases are rare.

The prosecution often has
a wealth of evidence

really setting out
the criminality

and step by step,
how they took this money
and what they did with it.

It's very easy
to convince juries of that

because they have
the financial records.

So to have somebody
go into trial

and saying,
"I didn't do it" is rare.

[Dr. Das] Nicole refused
to admit guilt.

And we have to question
why this is.

One possibility was that
she was actually delusional.

She believed the lies
that she told
about her cancer.

But I think it's probably
more likely

that she was so wrapped up
in her own lies

and she was so confident
in her ability to lie
and manipulate

that she refused
to give this up
even to the bitter end.

[Drummond] What separates
this trial out

from all the hundreds
and thousands of other
fraud cases that you see

passing through
the court system,
is the picture.

It's compelling,
it's heartbreaking
and it's fake.

This was her
attending hospital

for a relatively
minor procedure

not linked to cancer,
that she put online,

knowing that people
would assume

that it's linked
to her cancer treatment

and it will pull
on people's heartstrings.

This was an individual
who was not gonna budge
in any way with her story.

She was adamant
she was dying of cancer.

And because of that,
the GoFundMe page,
in her eyes, was justified.

[Drummond] This wasn't a case
where the defendant

had squirreled away
this fraud money
for use later.

There were no off-shore
bank accounts,

there were no clever ways
to conceal it.

She was brazen
in what she did.

She paid for a box
at Tottenham Hotspur,

trips to Rome,
trips to Barcelona,

all using this money
that she was a swindling
via GoFundMe.

I don't... I don't think
it was a particularly
fair sentence.

I think treatment
would be a better option,

if I'm being really honest,

because there's obviously
some kind of...

mental illness or, you know,

something that isn't
quite right.

Who... Who would
come up with that?

You know, why?

And I just think,
the damage that you caused

to your family
and your and friends,

is it really worth £45,000?

She must have planned this
over a good period
of two years,

the whole thing.

By networking with people,

getting to know people,

building friendships,

building relationships
with people

in order to... In order
to get this thing done.

When people realized

what had happened,

there was a lot of anger.
A lot of anger.

[Jo] It was all calculated
from the beginning.

She knew who to target,

she knew what to say,

she, you know, emotionally
sort of tugged

at certain people.

Yeah, she knew
what she was doing, I think.

[Dr. Das]
The fact that Nicole can lie

to her close friends
and rip them off
so effortlessly

suggests that she might have
some traits
of being a psychopath.

Psychopaths, as well
as lacking empathy

and being impulsive,
and not caring

about the rights
of other people

tend to be very cunning
and they tend to be
very manipulative.

The judge was clear
when he was sentencing Nicole.

This was a cunning
and deceitful act
that she carried out

against these 600 people.

And there was reports
that as she was sentenced,
she was sobbing in the...

So if you look
at Nicole Elkabbas,

her digital footprint online

was an individual
who looked professional,

was someone
you wouldn't suspect

was anything other
than a decent member
of the community.

Lo and behold,
she was the polar opposite.

An individual
who was a fraudster.

Someone that was conning
many, many people

for financial gain.

Who would've known?

I feel quite sorry for her
in some ways,

that somebody feels
that they have to,

I mean,
pretend that their life
is different to what it is.

I'm still a bit angry.

Um, but I don't know
whether she is
a complete fraudster

or whether she's mentally ill.
I don't know.

[Marc] Thinking
about Nicole now,

you know,
to be honest with you,

I'm really sad.

And this is not
defending anyone
in any way whatsoever.

But what drives a person

to actually do that?

You know, was it pure greed?

Was it debt?

What was it?

All successful con artists
are good at manipulation.
They're good at lying.

But it feels like Nicole
has taken this
to an extra level.

The people involved
in the case,
the police, the prosecutors,

even they said that she was
extremely convincing

to the degree
that they started questioning

in whether
there might have been

an element of truth
in some of what she said.

I would say
what Nicole has done to me

has not affected me
in any way.

She does not have the power
to stop me from being who I am

or from helping somebody
if they need help.

She is one bad egg
in a sea of people

that are pretty okay.

It's really rare.

She's not gonna change
my personality

or mess me up. No way.

It's just not...
That is just not gonna happen.