Woman who scammed thousands with false cancer history subject to new ABC News Studios Docuseries

When Amanda Christine Riley, a California-based Christian blogger and mother of two, started the blog “Lymphom can suck it” in 2012 to document her cancer journey, care from friends, strangers and even celebrities streamed in. The showered emotional support, gifts, gifts, Help with travel, distractions to her children, babysitting and financial help to cover her medical treatment.

But what her followers didn’t know at the time was that Riley, who said she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, didn’t really have cancer.

Now, ABC News Studios tells the story of Riley in the four-part documents “Scamanda”, where she explored how she played on supporters’ empathy to bark them of thousands of dollars, a deception that ultimately led to her arrest and conviction .

The documents, which are based on 2023 no. 1 -hit podcast with the same name, will be released on Thursdays, beginning January 30, at 1 p.m. 21 one at ABC and stream the next day at Hulu. It will include new interviews with podcast creator Charlie Webster, detectives, family and friends.

Webster dives into the incredible, bisar and sad story of Riley, whose secret shattered a family and stunned a community. Also the new series reveals the identity of the anonymous source that started the whole investigation.

Riley’s story is one of a wife, mother, blogger and Christian, whose tragic cancer journey captivated thousands.

It begins in 2012 in San Jose, California, where she made a name for herself in her denomination by becoming an active part of many different groups in Mega-Church Family Community Church, a lively congregation that number more than 5,000 who Meet at the church’s scattered 17 goals large party.

Riley’s family became the poster family for the church. Riley’s husband, Cory, had a daughter from a previous marriage, whom Riley called his bonus daughter.

Amanda and Corey Riley married in 2011 and greeted their first child together in May 2012.

“In 2012, Amanda was a mother and a stepmother,” webster said. “She was a wife, she was a Christian who attended church and was very active in her community. She was very charming, very well -liked and she was diagnosed with cancer.”

Riley had informed the community that she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and church members were saddened by the news.

“This suddenly came on, it came hard,” recalls church member Lindsey Wilder when she first heard the news of Riley’s cancer diagnosis. “And she didn’t deserve to go through anything so hard.”

Riley, affected by so many empathy, said it was part of the reason she created the blog. She wanted the blog to be a place where family and friends could get updates, she said. The blog gained popularity quickly. Friends, family and strangers followed her journey and said they would help.

As her visibility rose, the support did, giving her celebrity -like status in society. In the fall of 2013, Riley told her supporters that her doctor told her she was pregnant and told friends that this was a miracle baby – that she was still undergoing treatment and had an IUD.

“After all this chemo and radiation she had, she is pregnant,” said Riley’s babysitter Mahasti Ameli. “I said, ‘Amanda, what happens now that you’re pregnant?’ Oh, my doctor said I could stop chemo and radiation or something that is for my cancer until the baby is born.

In April 2014, Riley welcomed her healthy baby boy and shared the wonderful news. But between her treatments and expenses, she wrote that her family fought financially — even declared bankruptcy.

And society responded. Donations from both the church and online communities poured into her website — a total of more than $ 105,000. Seeing Riley winning so much notoriousness and money made some people troubled. One of these people was Lisa Berry.

“At one point I started reading her blog. She puts pictures and I was just surprised to see all the attention she gets for it,” said Lisa Berry, a former friend of Riley’s. “There was just something inside me that just said this isn’t right.”

Berry stepped back from being Riley’s friend after suspecting a pattern of lies. Berry said Riley had told her two years before Riley announced on her blog that she had just been diagnosed, that she had cancer and only months to live. Berry initially believed her but became suspicious until an afternoon when she says Riley went too far.

“She told me she had just had fluid drained from her brain in the hospital,” Berry said. “So she came from the hospital and she swam underwater (by a backyard pool), after having fluid drained by her brain? I knew it wasn’t right. And I start going through my mind and thinking about everyone the stories she told me. ”

In 2015, Berry contacted people being scammed, contacting investigative manufacturer Nancy Moscatiello, who was looking for scam stories for “Crime Watch Daily” when the TV show was just launching.

Fascinated, Moscatiello looked at it, and this marked the turning point, which led to the possible downfall of Riley’s cancer fraud.

Moscatiello brought his conclusions to Jose Martinez, then an economic crime detective based in San Jose. Martinez, in turn, eventually referred the case to the IRS, who took over the investigation.

In July 2020, Riley was charged with wire fraud “A scheme to request donations from individuals to help her pay for cancer treatments she never needed or received,” as stated by DOJ.

In May 2022, Riley pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She was ordered to pay refund in an amount of $ 105,513 and sentenced to 60 months in prison.

At the end of December 2024, Riley was released from the prison in Texas and transferred to a housing center center in southern California to implement the rest of his verdict.