glamour.com
26.06.2023 / 16:45
Scamanda Podcast: All About the Viral Cancer Scammer Saga
about a woman who was able to convince her friends and family that she had cancer for nearly a decade — convincing them to give her more than $100,000 for “treatment” in the process— has captivated listeners.Amanda Riley, a former teacher and principal from Northern California, was last May to five years in federal prison for wire fraud in the scheme, which she pled guilty to in October 2021. From 2012 to 2019, Riley had told friends, family, and internet strangers, via social media and a blog, that she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the US Attorney’s office said, adding she “used her presence on these sites to ‘document’ her nonexistent medical condition, and to aggressively solicit donations, supposedly to cover her medical expenses.”In order to keep up her scheme, Riley shaved her head, falsified medical records, and even sued a local journalist, Nancy Muscatello, who had grown suspicious of her and began to dig into Riley and her blog.