Blogger Amanda C. Riley Faked Cancer & Collected Over $100K in Donations: Scamanda Podcast Update!

Shibakshya Rai

Blogger Amanda C. Riley Faked Cancer & Collected Over $100K in Donations: Scamanda Podcast Update! blurred-reality.com

Blogger Amanda C. Riley faked that she had cancer through her blogs and collected over $100k in donations. As reported in the Scamanda podcast, she was caught in 2019 and was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2022.

It’s always a good deed to help somebody, especially when they’re fighting for their life. A lot of people do not have the money needed to cure the disease they’ve been fighting. Helping them by donating money has helped a lot of people to live their life. However, it’s important to examine if the victim is truly suffering.

Amanda C. Riley is currently making headlines on the Internet as she faked that she was diagnosed with cancer through her blogs and collected more than $100k in donations. Even though it has been more than a year since the incident happened, her story was recently covered in a podcast titled Scamanda on Apple Podcasts. Of course, a lot of people do not have the time to listen to the 5-episode podcast and are looking to know about Amanda’s story in brief. Well, we’ve got you covered.

Amanda C. Riley Faked Being Diagnosed With Cancer Through Her Blogs and Collected Over $100K in Donations: Here’s How She Was Caught!

Amanda Riley, a San Jose resident, lied about having Hodgkin’s cancer in 2012, saying she needed money for her medical bills. She even created social media sites on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and blogged about her claimed experience. She also shaved her head to look the part. She kept the $105,513 in donations rather than using it for cancer treatments; she instead spent it on necessities.

Amanda Riley collected over $100k through her scam. blurred-reality.comAmanda Riley collected over $100k through her scam.
Image Source: TRUE CRIME DAILY PODCAST

Her scam was exposed by the Internal Revenue Service in 2019, leading to a charge of wire fraud in 2020, which she pled guilty to in October 2021. Last year, Amanda was sentenced to five years in prison. After being freed from prison, she will be under supervision for three years and must make up to everyone she defrauded. The US attorney said,

When people donated to Riley over the internet or at in-person fund-raisers, they believed their donations would be used to pay Riley’s cancer-related expenses…In fact, Riley had no cancer-related expenses, and donors’ funds were simply deposited into Riley’s personal bank account.

Amanda was sentenced to 5 years in prison. blurred-reality.comAmanda was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Image Source: People

Amanda became a regular blogger and posted blogs on the websites detailing her alleged battle with cancer, the therapies she underwent, and even pictures of her hospital stays, medications, and adverse effects from chemotherapy. But she didn’t stop there; in order to make her fictitious illness seem as real as possible, she also faked medical records and doctor’s notes and certificates.

Her blog’s link to her support page described her “battle with cancer,” claiming she was diagnosed in June 2012, went into recovery for a short period of time, and then her lymphoma returned “with a vengeance” as Stage 4 metastatic cancer. She claimed in her description that she needed chemotherapy and radiation at different hospitals, including Johns Hopkins.

Moreover, she provided a link on her blog, Lymphoma Can Suck It, to a fundraising site, “Amanda’s Battle with Cancer,” where people could make a financial contribution. There used to be a “donate now” button on the website where kind people could send money to help pay for her medical expenses. Money was donated to the cause by friends, relatives, and even churchgoers, and it was all placed into her personal bank account.

In addition, money was raised through Facebook, a CrossFit fundraiser, raffles, different sales, and even an eBay auction that featured an electric guitar autographed by two country music stars. Riley’s family, who remained faithful to her and shared her belief that she had cancer, even went so far as to sue someone who questioned it.

But the unsettling truth was that Amanda had never been ill or had cancer. She pled guilty and acknowledged that between September 2012 and January 2019, she defrauded unsuspecting donors out of thousands of dollars by making up her cancer battle.

In the end, Riley lost her job as principal at Pac Point Christina Academy in Gilroy, and she relocated her family to Texas, including her husband Cory and their two sons. According to court documents obtained by The Daily Mail, Riley’s counsel convinced Judge Beth Labson Freeman that Riley deserves only five years in prison. Public defender Jodi Linker wrote,

Ms. Riley recognizes the seriousness of her offense. She is extremely remorseful and is determined to do everything possible both to make restitution and to earn the forgiveness of the people she has hurt.

Riley was supported by Linker as a “devoted wife and mother” and a “gifted teacher” before the end of her career, although Linker also implied Riley was having mental health issues. Click here to listen to full episodes of Scamanda on Apple Podcasts.