Woman Faked Cancer for a Decade — Until Her Lies Finally Blew Up

A teacher from California has come under fire for faking cancer and swindling $100,000 in donations. Amanda Riley, a California resident born in 1985, was married to Cory Riley. That said, before the couple’s marriage, Cory was married to Aletta. The couple hired Amanda to teach dance to their daughter, who was being treated for cancer at the time. Eventually, the couple divorced and Cory ended up marrying Amanda.

At the time, Cory and Aletta were involved in a co-parenting situation with their daughter Jessa that became bitter over the years. At one point, Cory and Amanda filed for full custody of  Jessa, claiming that “Aletta was unstable and deliberately trying to alienate Jessa from her father.” However, this was later denied by Aletta and Jessa herself, who is an adult now.

Amanda finally launched her scam in 2012 with the blog Lymphoma Can Suck It. There, she claimed to be suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As the years passed, Amanda built a large following through her blog. Fans would donate money online to her “medical bills.” She even hosted fundraisers at churches and various other events to “raise money for her treatment.”

However, according to People, Amanda never really had cancer and was using the illness to “financially support her and Cory’s lifestyle.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office spoke on the matter in a conversation with the publication. “She used her presence on these sites to ‘document’ her nonexistent medical condition, and to aggressively solicit donations, supposedly to cover her medical expenses,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office began.

“In truth, [Amanda] had no medical expenses. The donations she received were deposited into her personal bank accounts and used to pay her living expenses.” Supporters of Amanda gifted her with free trips, babysitting, meals and gift cards. The couple even used the hoax as a means for Cory to reduce the child support payments to Aletta in order to save money for his wife’s treatment.

The publication has reported that Amanda was convicted of stealing $105,513 from 349 people and entities. Investigative producer Nancy Moscatiello, who made an entire show titled Scamanda about the ordeal, revealed that she traced another $80,000 that wasn’t part of online donations.

Moscatiello was the one who blew the lid off the entire operation after getting an anonymous tip. “There were things in the blog that didn’t seem right,” Moscatiello said. “My sister had stage 4 lung cancer years before and a friend of mine helped her by researching clinical trials. She looked at the blog and pointed me to inconsistencies, like treatments that were not available at home or could only be administered by a medically trained person — and medicines that could only be kept in a laboratory fridge.”

At first, Amanda reportedly pleaded not guilty to falsifying documents and faking her illness. However, she eventually switched to a guilty plea, with her attorneys requesting a six-month prison sentence. She apologized to the public, claiming that her “heart aches every day.” The judge stated that Amanda was at risk of scamming people again. The judge noted that the maximum sentence for such a crime was 20 years in prison.

However, Amanda was eventually sentenced to “five years in prison, three years of supervised probation and to pay restitution plus interest to all 349 donors.” After serving her sentence, Amanda was released in December 2025. As of writing, it’s unclear as to what she is doing with her life.