The shocking revelations of a mum who faked having cancer to swindle tens of thousands of pounds to fund a luxury lifestyle is set to be shown on television.

Devious faker Nicole Elkabbas, from Broadstairs, was jailed after a four-year campaign that saw her con friends and kind-hearted strangers for money to fund her crippling gambling addiction.

The gripping tale of her unbelievable lies and subsequent discovery, trial and imprisonment will feature as the first episode of The Big Swindle, a six-part series documenting of the most brazen and ruthless con artists seen in the country.

The former Harrods fashion consultant baited almost 700 victims by posting a bogus picture of herself in a hospital bed on GoFundMe in 2017, claiming to need rare life-saving treatment for ovarian cancer.

The fundraising page said the “loving mum” who was “recently diagnosed” needed cash for life-saving treatment.

It came with a photo portraying Elkabbas as frail, laying on her back in a hospital bed under a blanket, eyes closed and mouth open.

But the picture was actually taken after she had an operation to remove her gall bladder months before.

Elkabbas would con well-wishers out of almost £45,000 to spend on holidays, football tickets and gambling.

but the mum-of-one protested her innocence during a high-profile trial at Canterbury Crown Court in 2020.

Following her conviction, she was jailed for two years and nine months in 202.

Upon Elkabbas’ release she was controversially ordered to pay back just £5 in a Proceeds of Crime hearing at the same court, which heard she had no realistic means to pay back her ill-gotten gains.

Elkabbas’ deception was unearthed after the consultant oncologist, who gave her the all-clear just weeks before, discovered the scam page called ‘Nicole Needs Our Help Treatment’, seemingly written by her mum Delores, who was actually suffering from the deadly disease that would take her life just weeks before Elkabbas was jailed.

Her former friend and leading London gynaecologist Dr Nicholas Morris also happened on the GoFundMe page - where she claimed to be in a Spanish hospital - and realised the snap had actually been taken at the Spencer Hospital in Margate.

When police began exploring cracks in Elkabbas’ labyrinth of untruths it emerged Barcelona’s Teknon Clinic, where she said she was staying, had never heard of her.

The doctor she claimed was in charge of her treatment, Filipe Suarez, didn’t exist, according to Spanish medical officials.

But an investigation into her bank account revealed heavy online and casino gambling, almost £4,000 paid to Spurs, and thousands splurged on four star hotels in the centre of Barcelona, restaurants and a visit to the Sagrada Família, while claiming to be unwell.

A clip from the first episode of The Big Swindle shows one of Elkabbas’s close friends Jo Mapp speaking of the horrific ordeal she and others were put through at her hands.

She said: “A friend sent an article over to me where it said that a local woman…and it mentioned Nicole Elkabbas …had been 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 had been arrested for that, they haven’t proven anything. So, I absolutely still didn’t believe it.”

Episode one of The Big Swindle will air on Discovery+ and Quest Red at 9pm on Saturday, June 13.