She said she had cancer for 8 years. The truth was more complicated
Amanda Riley drew people in with a story.
She presented herself as a young woman and mother of two battling an aggressive blood cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma — who, despite her devastating diagnosis, was not giving up, according to a press release from the United States District Court, Northern District of California.
Riley documented every step of her cancer journey on social media and various blogs for years. She shared raw photos of herself receiving cancer treatment, including pictures of herself with IVs and chemo ports at the hospital, as well as photos of herself with a bald head, per the release.Over the course of eight years, Riley, now 39, hosted numerous fundraisers, both in person and online, gathering hundreds of supporters who donated more than $100,000 to fund her life-saving treatments.
Then, the truth came out: it had all been a scam. Riley had never had Hodgkin's lymphoma, and she had staged her illness for years to solicit donations for her non-existent cancer expenses. Riley pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
A new four-part documentary, 'Scamanda,' explores how Rileypulled off her elaborate scheme. The series, which premieres Jan. 30 on ABC News with episodes streaming on Hulu the next day, includes interviews with friends and family members victimized for years by Riley's deception.
Keep reading to learn more about what Riley was convicted of, what she has said about her crime, and where she is now.
Riley pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in October 2011. She was sentenced in May 2022 to 60 months in prison, and required to pay restitution to her victims.
The wire fraud conviction stems from Riley's actions between 2012 and 2019, when she feigned having cancer, per the release. She used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a personal blog to document her supposed cancer journey, staging fake treatment photographs and forging medical records and physicians' letters, according to the district court's filing.
Throughout these years, she aggressively fundraised online and through in-person events — supposedly to help fund her expensive treatments, but in reality the money went directly to her personal bank accounts, according to the district court's filing. More than 300 people, whose names were included in Riley's criminal judgment, raised over $105,000 for Riley.
Four people delivered victim impact statements about how Riley's schemes affected them over the years, per a transcript from a May 2022 court hearing in San Jose.
One statement came from Jessa Gonzalez, the daughter of Riley's husband, Cory Riley, from his previous marriage.
Gonzalez was 10 years old when Amanda Riley told her she had cancer, and she recalled feeling 'terrified' that her stepmom 'wouldn't be around much longer.'
As the years went on, though, Gonzalez said she began to suspect something was off.
'Amanda was always sick, never being able to get out of bed, but I would never see her go to appointments. She had always looked healthy,' she said. 'I noticed she would starve herself until she would pass out.'
Gonzalez said she once found an 'IV wrapped in Saran wrap' in her little brother's playroom, and when she brought it to Riley, her stepmother grew defensive.
'She quickly took it from me and said my little brother took it out of her nightstand,' she said. 'I knew better than to question her, as she (would) regularly lash out at me.'
Gonzalez, who was 19 when she delivered her victim impact statement, said Riley's longterm deception had made her depressed and severely anxious.
'My hair is falling out from severe stress, and some days I can't physically function because of how bad she has scarred me,' she said.
Gonzalez's mother and Cory Riley's ex-wife, Aletta Souza, also delivered a victim impact statement reflecting on the emotional damage she said Riley had inflicted on her daughter.
'Amanda Riley would tell my daughter she had a few months to live, and then a miracle, she was in remission, and then again dying, and then remission, and on and on. The toll that takes on a child, and that damage caused, is immeasurable,' she said.
The court also heard victim impact statements from Lindsey Wilder, who frequently donated platelets in honor of Riley, and Lisa Berry, a former friend of Riley.
Berry said Riley told her about her cancer diagnosis in 2010, and asked her and her husband to help pay for life-saving blood tests.
'We gave her the needed money. Within a couple days, she posted glamorous photos of herself taken by a professional photographer,' Berry said. 'I became suspicious that the money I had given her was used to pay for this photo shoot.'
Berry said she and her husband began to see through Riley's lies, which they found especially upsetting considering that Berry's husband's first wife had died from cancer after a long battle with the disease.
They eventually cut all ties with Riley, and said they were dismayed to learn that Riley was telling others in 2012 that she had been newly diagnosed with cancer.
'Amanda Riley was faking cancer and scamming on an even larger scale,' Berry said. 'My husband and I were revolted to learn that this was happening all over again.'
As part of her sentence, Riley was ordered to pay restitution of more than $105,000 to hundreds of people who donated to her fraudulent cancer-related fundraisers. A 2022 court document includes a list of every person owed restitution, including several people who donated small amounts of $10 or $25, and others who donated several thousand dollars to Riley.
Riley delivered a statement at her sentencing hearing on May 3, 2022, according to the same court transcript.
'Your Honor, there aren't enough words to adequately express how horrific I feel and how sorry I am that this happened,' she said. 'My heart aches every day, thinking that I did something that hurt other people. This is the worst thing I've ever done and the worst mistake I could have made.'
She also said she felt 'ashamed' by her actions, and said she had 'been dealing with the repercussions of this for years.'
'I threw away my dream career, lost all my friends and family. I went from being a nobody, to being negatively covered in dozens of tabloids and news articles,' she said.
Riley also said it was time to 'step forward and be accountable.'
'I'm here to accept responsibility and humbly accept my consequences as the first step of showing everyone I want to make this right,' she said. 'I will spend the rest of my life working towards the amends for the hurt that I have caused.'
She also directly addressed her stepdaughter, Jessa Gonzalez.
'I hope this brings you the closure and clarity you have been seeking,' she said. 'I'm so sorry you were in the dark for what was truly happening for so long. You had to walk through this, and it breaks my heart to know I hurt you.'
In addition, Riley mentioned the two sons she shares with Cory Riley.
'Our two young boys were babies when this started, so they were too little to be affected by my bad choices,' she said. 'Now to see them as big boys who are going to see their mom go through this process, is going to flip their world upside down.'
As she sentenced Riley, United States District Judge Beth Labson Freeman addressed her directly.
'I can only imagine that, over eight years, you were as sincere to those people as you appeared to me today,' she said. 'And I have to say that in listening to you today, I could only imagine what a good act you had for eight years in front of churches and community groups and in your blog and online and with your children.'
Freeman added that it 'breaks my heart to think that your boys … will not have their mother with them.'
'But it was your responsibility before you committed these frauds, to think about your parental obligations,' Freeman continued. 'It is not the court's job to clean that up for you.'
Amanda Riley began serving a five-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center Carswell, a federal prison in Ft. Worth, Texas.
According to petition for divorce obtained by TODAY.com, Cory Riley filed for divorce in January 2024. The filing said Cory Riley was living in Texas.
Her release date is Dec. 4, 2025, according to her inmate record.
Her inmate record also states that Riley is now located at RRM Long Beach, a residential reentry management field office.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, RRMs manage different categories of federal offenders, including juveniles, inmates in home confinement, those in 'jail/short-term' and 'long-term boarders.'
RRMs also 'monitor local Residential Reentry Centers which are responsible for providing federal offenders with community-based services that will assist with their reentry needs,' according to the Bureau of Prisons.
It is unclear which of the above inmate categories Riley currently falls into, and whether she is serving the rest of her sentence in prison, a residential reentry center, home confinement or elsewhere.
After her release from prison, Riley will undergo a three-year period of supervision, according to a 2022 press release from the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of California.
Last summer, Riley sought a reduction of her sentence. She asked for her sentence to be reduced to time served on the grounds of compassionate release, citing various medical maladies she was allegedly suffering in prison.
In June 2024, a judge denied her request, citing 'evidence that Defendant is once again feigning illness.'This article was originally published on TODAY.com
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Yahoo
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How benefits fraud exploded – and milking the system went mainstream
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In its report last year, the DWP reported a top-line figure that 2.8 per cent of its £268 billion total benefits outlay (which includes around £160 billion on pensions, less susceptible to fraud), or £7.4 billion, was lost to fraud. This year fraud was down to 2.2 per cent, or £6.5 billion – a sum that has more than doubled since 2020 – with a further £1.9 billion on claimant error and £1 billion official error. If fraud was its own block of spending, it would be not far from how much the government spends on the entire legal system (£8.6 billion), and more than higher education (£7.2 billion), foreign aid (£7.2 billion) and potholes (£7 billion). It would be enough to buy you a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier with change for 11 F-35s to put on it. A 1p cut in income tax would cost just £6.4 billion. There were 7.5 million people on Universal Credit in January 2025, up from 6.4 million people on Universal Credit in January 2024. The most recent data show that there were 39,000 new 'starts' – people receiving benefit – per week in that month from 47,000 claims, implying an acceptance rate of 83 per cent. High profile fraud cases, even if they represent a minority of claimants, are infuriating for the rule-abiding public and toxic for government. Sara Morris's was not the only recent case to make headlines. Last May, three women and two men from a Bulgarian crime gang were jailed for between three and eight years each for a £50 million benefits fraud, the biggest in British history, which involved thousands of fraudulent claims. Sentencing Gyunesh Ali, one of the gang members, Judge David Aaronberg said Ali had committed fraud 'on an industrial scale'. In December, Halton council announced it would have to write off more than £240,000 of unpaid welfare fraud debt owed by Christina Pomfrey, a Runcorn grandmother, after her death. 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