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It’s a grave illness that has impacted almost every single person in the world – but despite enormous advances in scientific research over the years, there is still no cure for cancer.

As a subject that is sensitive to many, cancer evokes strong emotions in people who rally around campaigners and high-profile people who are battling the illness – but what if these heartfelt cancer stories aren’t what they seem to be?

Social media and online fundraisers set up to support people undergoing cancer treatment have had happy endings for many – but a darker trend has emerged in the cancer faker, who lies about having the illness to make money from concerned well-wishers. 

In cases that have caused shock and outrage around the world, people with public platforms have later been exposed for lying about having cancer.  

From influencers trying to sell their products, to people trying to fund addiction, and even those who just want attention, cancer fakers have been known to go to extreme lengths to keep up the act, for motivations that boggle the mind.

Why do people fake cancer? As an illness that affects almost every person in the world either directly or indirectly, cancer is a condition that evokes strong emotions in people. However, what happens when people who say they are suffering from the grave illness turn out to be lying? FEMAIL charts high-profile cases of cancer fakers and tries to understand what motivates them. Pictured: Nicole Elkabbas, who lied about having cancer to raise money online

Speaking to FEMAIL, psychotherapist and founder of the Luxe Psychology Practice Jade Thomas explained why cancer fakers evoke such fury among the general public, and explained they can be motivated by several different things.

Suggesting that people feel ‘betrayed’ by such lies after getting behind a person’s sad story, she said: ‘Most individuals know or can empathise with the devastating, distressing and traumatic experience that cancer can have on people, whether that be the patient themselves or loved ones of the patient.’

She added: ‘Individuals who malinger appear to the public to be manipulative, deceitful, and immoral.’

Dr Marc Feldman, a psychologist who is an international expert in factitious disorders, defines malingering as when people lie about serious illness for external gain.

Belle Gibson, an Australian wellness influencer, was exposed after she lied about having inoperable brain cancer which she said she managed to cure through a regime of clean eating

In an interview on the Speaking of Psychology podcast, he said people who malinger are ‘going after things that are tangible’, for example, obtaining opioid medication or, if they are facing a criminal conviction, the ability to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. 

This differs from Munchausen syndrome (also known as factitious disorder) which causes people to fake illness in themselves, or others, to gain attention.

In the world of cancer fakers, Munchausen syndrome has also been identified in high-profile cases where the world has been fooled into believing someone has suffered from the illness. 

Gypsy Rose Blanchard was 23-years-old when she was jailed for her part in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee, who was found stabbed to death inside her Missouri home. After Gypsy and her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, were arrested over the killing, people who knew the Blanchard family were shocked – but as more details unravelled, the case gained attention around the world.

In 2020, cancer faker Lucy Wieland was convicted of fleecing kind loved ones and strangers out of a total of £26,000 ($50,000 AUD) when she claimed to be suffering from ovarian cancer 

Madison Marie Russo, 20, gained thousands of followers on TikTok as she documented her journey with cancer, claiming she had a tumour ‘the size of a football’ on her spine

Gypsy had been the victim of abuse at the hands of her mother, who was posthumously diagnosed with Munchausen by Proxy. The mental health condition caused her to fake medical conditions in her daughter, including terminal leukaemia, to gain attention.

As well as having cancer, Dee Dee told the world her daughter was unable to walk and had the mental age of a seven-year-old. But as detectives continued their investigation it became clear that the daughter was perfectly healthy.

Speaking about the case, Dr Feldman told the Springfield News Leader at the time that Gypsy had been her mother’s ‘prisoner’.

‘Gypsy was infantilised and kept away from her peers,’ he said. ‘She was little more than a tool for Dee Dee to navigate through the world the way she wanted to.’ 

When asked to speculate over Dee Dee’s motives for lying about her daughter’s ill-health, he said that, while there may have been some financial motivation, for the most part the lies were for ‘the pursuit of attention and control’. 

Last month, after spending eight years in prison over her role in her mother’s murder, it was announced that Gypsy Rose Blanchard, now 32, had been granted parole. She will be released in December.

Dee Dee Blanchard was found stabbed to death in her Missouri home in 2015. As the investigation unfolded, it was discovered that Dee Dee had Munchausen by proxy, which caused her to fake and inflict illness upon her daughter, Gypsy Rose

The Blanchard story had a gruesome and bloody ending which shocked the world, but it is not the only high-profile case of a false claim of cancer to have made headlines in the last decade. 

The same year that Dee Dee Blanchard was found dead in Missouri, a wellness influencer in Melbourne, Australia, was forced to admit she had lied about a terminal cancer diagnosis.

In 2013, Belle Gibson launched the @healing_belle Instagram account where she gained a large following through sharing so-called ‘healing’ food recipes. 

She claimed that her lifestyle and healthy eating plan had ‘cured’ her inoperable brain cancer, which she had been diagnosed with at the age of 20 and given just months to live.

Gibson claimed she had undergone traditional cancer treatments including chemotherapy and radiotherapy before abandoning modern medicine to follow a programme of clean eating instead. 

Before long the deals began to roll in, with Gibson launching an app full of recipes as well as a book deal, reportedly worth £213,500 ($420,000 AUD). 

Describing her plant-based diet in her book, she said: ‘I was empowering myself to save my own life through nutrition, patience, determination, and love.’

However, in 2014, the Melbourne-based personality claimed that despite her new wellness-focused lifestyle, her cancer had returned, and this time it had spread. While many fans were devastated by the news, suspicions were soon raised about the money she claimed to have donated to various charities from the proceeds of her book.

Following an investigation by Fairfax Media, it was discovered that none of the charities Gibson had named had received a penny from her. 

The influencer’s story quickly began to unravel and in April 2015, she was forced to admit she had lied.

In an interview with Australia Women’s Weekly, she said: ‘No… None of it’s true,’ before adding she hoped people would forgive her and see that she was only ‘human’.

Two years after her admission, Gibson was fined around £215,000 ($410,000 AUD) after being found guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct. 

Speaking about the Gibson story, Jade said: ‘Cases like these can have a huge influence on people.’

She added that there is a risk other cancer patients may become inspired by such fake stories and ditch modern medicine in favour of the alternative treatments being promoted, which can be ‘extremely damaging’. 

Shortly after Gibson’s story was foiled, psychologist Sandy Rea wrote an article in the Herald Sun which attempted to climb into Gibson’s mind and understand her motivations.

By her assessment, Gibson did not fit the profile of someone with Munchausen Syndrome. 

Rea explained that people who suffer from the disorder have an ingrained need for attention, but have little to no interest in financial gain. Gibson, in contrast, used her fake illnesses to sell books and gain app subscribers and profited from the lies she told.

While Rea didn’t attempt to diagnose Gibson in her piece, she explained compulsive liars, and noted how they can often indulge in fraudulent behaviour.

She wrote: ‘They lie repeatedly and consistently for personal satisfaction and are often criminal.’

But in recent years, a new type of cancer-faker has emerged, using tools that have only recently become available – the online fundraising crook. 

In 2020, cancer faker Lucy Wieland was convicted of fleecing kind loved ones and strangers out of a total of £26,000 ($50,000 AUD) when she claimed to be suffering from ovarian cancer.

She used a GoFundMe page to collect the donations from well-wishers after winning them over with her story – even going to the lengths of posting photos of herself supposedly having treatment in hospital. 

The fraudster, from Queensland, Australia, was jailed for two years in 2020 after pleading guilty to seven charges including fraud. During her campaign of lies, she even fooled her own family and friends into believing she was having cancer treatment.

While Wieland was in court for faking ovarian cancer to get money out of people down under, a very similar story was unfolding in the UK.

Nicole Elkabbas, from Broadstairs in Kent, was also convicted in 2020 of defrauding well-wishers to the sum of £45,000 – also claiming she needed the money for ovarian cancer treatment. 

In a trial at Canterbury Crown Court, Elkabbas pleaded not guilty, claiming she really believed she had cancer. Jurors heard she scammed 700 people in total, using a GoFundMe page on which she posted a photo of herself looking unwell in a hospital bed.

Judge Mark Weekes sentenced her to two years and nine months in prison as a court heard she used the money to fund her gambling addiction.

Just this year, a TikTok star who claimed to have cancer and raised thousands of dollars via a GoFundMe page pleaded guilty to first-degree theft.

Madison Marie Russo, 20, gained thousands of followers on the social media platform as she documented her journey with cancer, claiming she had a tumour ‘the size of a football’ on her spine.

The Iowa-based TikToker routinely appeared in videos which appeared to show her hooked up to hospital drips – but her scam was foiled when anonymous medical professionals alerted the authorities to her campaign, having developed suspicions about the validity of Russo’s claims.

As online fundraisers provide another means to scam members of the public, Jade doesn’t believe such platforms enable cancer fakers. However, she argues they ‘might help people achieve their motive’. 

A GoFundMe spokesperson said: ‘Crowdfunding fraud is a crime – and we will not hesitate to work with the police to bring those who exploit the trust of others to justice.

‘No crowdfunding platform protects its users like GoFundMe – with extensive security controls and verification technology on par with the banking sector. 

‘We also have the world’s first and only crowdfunding guarantee meaning that in the very rare case of misuse donations get to the right place or will be refunded.’

In an ever growing and evolving online world, studies have been conducted into how the internet has changed the way in which people who malinger, or people who have Munchausen disorder, operate.

In the year 2000, in the earlier years of the world wide web, Dr Feldman coined the phrase Munchausen by Internet – which refers to people who fake illnesses in online spheres.

Although social media sites had not yet taken off, Feldman’s research into the phenomenon had been informed by several cases during the 1990s where people had used the internet to present themselves as seriously unwell or victims of violence.

More than 20 years on, countless forums and support groups exist online where people can speak with others who are suffering from similar medical diagnoses – and according to Jade, this could well be offering people with Munchausen syndrome another outlet through which to fake illness.

She said: ‘I think the internet might encourage or intensify Munchausen syndrome as it allows individuals to search for symptoms, google diagnose themselves and engage in influential forums.

She added: ‘Individuals with Munchausen [have] direct access into individuals experiences via support groups or forums, which allows them to mimic the experience or illness to others. 

‘For individuals with Munchausen the internet or support groups might also offer a sense of community as a way of receiving attention or sympathy.’

Whereas the motivations behind malingering, where there is something obvious to gain from lying about illness, are somewhat easier to understand, Munchausen syndrome is an ill-researched condition, the causes of which are relatively unknown.

Potential explanations for the condition include emotional trauma, or true illness during childhood, or a personality disorder, but according to the NHS, the complex medical condition remains poorly understood because many people refuse treatment for it.

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