For many years, Amanda Riley conned her church community, friends and family into believing she had cancer.
New Disney+ series Scamanda follows the fraudster who fooled the she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, in 2012.
Although she was not actually ill, Riley carefully cultivated a social media presence using , , , and a blog called Lymphoma Can Suck It. For some pictures, Riley even shaved her head to appear to show she lost her hair from treatment.
The former teacher and principal convinced friends, coworkers, a megachurch, and complete strangers to donate more than $100,000 to her and her family to help cover the cost of her non-existent cancer treatments and travel for bucket list experiences.
But her blog led to her downfall as investigative producer Nancy Moscatiello and authorities began poking at glaring holes in Riley’s story and claims made in her posts.
The series, fronted by Charlie Webster, asks “Why would someone fake cancer?” and explores what her motivations were.
How did Amanda Riley fake she had cancer?
Amanda Riley falsely claimed she had cancer for many years and received $100,000 in donations (Image: ABC)
It is not known how Amanda Riley got the idea to fake her cancer diagnosis, but she told her friend Lisa Berry in 2010 she had the disease. Riley would later share her cancer diagnosis with her church community and on her blog Lymphoma Can Suck It in 2012.
In episode three of the documentary series, producer Charlie Webster shared Amanda would enter the hospital’s emergency department for various appointments and use them to pose for photos.
Being in the clinical setting, Riley was able to take photos of herself giving blood and appearing to be receiving treatment or having various tests carried out.
Nancy Moscatiello said: “It’s not that hard to keep a gown and take gauze pads. It’s not that hard to have medical supplies. You can order them online – there’s a lot of ways you can make it look legitimate.”
It was later revealed Riley shaved her head to appear as though she was receiving chemotherapy, falsified medical records, forged physicians’ documents, and created a library of photos depicting her fake cancer journey.
Amanda Christine Riley shaved her head to make her cancer story more believable (Image: ABC)
When Riley pleaded guilty to wire fraud, she admitted in the written plea agreement that she knew she did not have Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had never been diagnosed or treated with any type of cancer and that she’d knowingly deceived people to convince them to give her money.
She was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $105,513 and sentenced to 60 months in prison in May 2022.
While Riley admitted to court she conned people for money, series producer Charlie Webster thought otherwise.
“I’m 100 percent convinced it wasn’t for the money,” Webster argues. “I think it was an addiction. I looked at everything from an emotional, psychological, evidential [perspective].
“She realized that this attention came — if you look at social media now, so many people crave ‘likes.’ They give us an endorphin boost. I think it was that on steroids, 10 times more.
“Even though she did harm people emotionally and financially, in that moment of time she did help people and created hope for people. It was very much about this validation, about people adoring her.
“She had this amazing group of people that saw her as this anointed one. They really did.”
Scamanda is released on Disney Plus in the UK on Friday, February 21