Where Is ‘Scamanda’ Subject Amanda Riley Now? Inside Her Life After Faking Cancer

Listeners were left shook when the 2023 Scamanda podcast exposed mom-of-two Amanda Riley for spending seven years faking a battle with cancer to receive money and sympathy from others. Now, the story is coming to the small screen in a new docuseries of the same name.

The docuseries will “unravel the story of California native Amanda Riley, a young wife, mother and devout Christian whose life suddenly takes a terrible turn when she is diagnosed with Stage 3 blood cancer. Amanda begins documenting her battle online, captivating thousands, but she has a secret that she is dying to keep. Her story changes from inspiration to suspicion when someone sends an anonymous tip to investigative producer Nancy Moscatiello, who then embarks on a five-year-long investigation into Amanda,” according to a press release from ABC.

Scroll down for everything we know about Riley’s situation and where she is today.

Where is Amanda Riley now?

Riley is in the midst of serving a five-year prison sentence. She began her sentence at Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, in September 2022, and has since been transferred to a halfway house in California to complete the sentence. The penitentiary houses inmates with medical needs, including physical disabilities or illnesses, as well as mental illnesses.

In addition to five years in prison, Riley was also sentenced to three years of supervised probation and must pay restitution plus interest to 349 people who donated money amid her cancer scam.

What did Amanda Riley do?

In 2012, Riley started the blog Lymphoma Can Suck It, detailing how she was allegedly fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma (blood cancer). Her blog posts went viral, with commenters wanting to know how they could help or donate to her medical care. Through online donations alone, Riley raised $105,513.43, in addition to an unknown amount from other in-person donations in the form of cash, checks, free trips, memorabilia, and more.

As her popularity grew, Riley continued posting on her blog, detailing an alleged relapse where she claimed the lymphoma spread into her lungs. While she claimed to be going through treatment, she also got pregnant with her second child, garnering even more sympathy from others.

However, it was eventually exposed that Riley never had cancer at all. She posted fake photographs, including images that showed her with a shaved head, on her blog and conjured up fake hospital visits to keep up her ruse for nearly eight years. Meanwhile, the money that was coming in was used to fund her own lifestyle.

How was Amanda Riley caught?

The truth about what was really going on with Riley was exposed after Moscatiello, a longtime TV producer and eventual contributor to the Scamanda podcast, received an anonymous tip urging her to look into Riley’s blog. After years of investigating and gathering evidence, she turned in what she found to a detective in the financial crimes unit at the San Jose, California, Police Department in 2015.

The information was flagged to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in early 2016, which led to a raid of Riley’s home. However, no further action was taken at that point.

ABC/YouTube

When Riley found out she was being investigated by Moscatiello, she attempted to file a restraining order against her in 2017, but a judge ruled against it. Moscatiello continued gathering evidence against Riley, which she handed over to the police department and IRS.

Riley was officially charged with wire fraud in July 2020, specifically based on the donations that were made online. She pleaded not guilty, but switched her plea in October 2021. Despite an emotional plea to the court and her attorney’s request that she only receive six months behind bars, a judge issued a five-year sentence.

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“Listening to you today I can only imagine what a good act you had for eight years in front of churches, community groups, and in your blog and online and with your children,” the judge said. “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. It is not the court’s job to clean that up for you.”

Where is Amanda Riley’s husband Cory now?

Riley shared two kids with her husband, Cory Riley. Today, the three of them live in Austin, Texas, where they moved from California, according to The New York Post.

It’s unclear if Cory knew that his wife had been faking cancer. He was not charged with any crimes because prosecutors weren’t able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knew she was lying.

ABC/YouTube

However, Cory’s daughter from a previous relationship, Jessa, said on the Scamanda podcast that she felt her dad had an idea about what was going on. “He was very … I want to say ‘not himself,’ but I think I don’t really know who he is as a person,” Jessa, who is now an adult, admitted. “He kind of just looked numb all the time.” She also added, “They would take us to the hospital, almost to kind of prove there was something wrong with her.”

The San Jose detective involved in the case also said he felt like Cory “knew what was going on.” Jessa has not seen her father “for a long time,” she revealed.

Scamanda, Premiere, Thursday, January 30, 9/8c, ABC