Fake cancer battle scam is center of new docuseries 'Scamanda' on ABC and Hulu

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Friday, January 31, 2025
Fake cancer battle is center of new docuseries 'Scamanda'
An elaborate scam using a fake cancer battle to get donations is the center of a new ABC News Studios Docuseries "Scamanda."

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- An elaborate scam using a fake cancer battle to get donations is the center of a new ABC News Studios Docuseries.

It shows how a South Bay woman lied about a devastating cancer diagnosis, tricking countless people out of money.

Amanda C. Riley is a mom and was a wife and friend beloved by so many in her San Jose Church community and beyond.

VIDEO: 'Scamanda': Meet the women who brought down a cancer con artist

"Scamanda" podcast host Charlie Webster has been in contact with Amanda Riley for "months." It premieres Jan. 30 on ABC and streams next day on Hulu.

That community rallied around her when Riley told them of a stage 3 cancer battle.

Starting in 2012, Riley documented the journey she said she was going through in a blog.

For years, she shared detailed stories and posted pictures of herself in treatment attached to tubes and devices. All of it was fake.

All the while Riley spoke regularly at the San Jose megachurch she attended, getting countless cash, electronic and in-kind donations from people and organizations.

But as convincing as the scheme was to many, she did have skeptics -- one of them reaching out anonymously to an investigative producer, Nancy Mosciatello, who investigated for five years.

Mosciatello got Jose Martinez involved, a San Jose police detective who has since retired.

Martinez, now had the task of finding proof he could potentially bring to a court to prove that Riley was in fact lying and scamming people out of money.

"I'm in this taboo kind of subject matter, where if I pursue this young lady, and she really does have cancer, it's not gonna go well," Martinez said.

But because Riley had posted so much on the blog, Martinez was able to check facts.

MORE: Another East Bay woman falls victim to 'grandson scam,' loses $12,500

"There were things that weren't lining up like doctors associated with particular hospitals, but not all of those doctors were named as employees of those hospitals," he said.

Patient confidentiality laws led to difficulties, but a breakthrough finally came when one of the hospitals Riley claimed to have visited finally responded to Martinez.

"They said, 'No, she's never been here. She doesn't have any future appointments. She never was here,'" Martinez said.

After that, more breakthroughs came that led Martinez to stronger evidence, but Riley had been traveling coast to coast for what she claimed were cancer treatments, meaning the case was bigger than Martinez's reach.

Enter special agent Arlette Lyons based in Oakland at the time. Lyons, now also retired from her role at the time and now living in Las Vegas, had also been in touch with the investigative producer who tipped off Martinez.

With Lyons on the case, Riley was now under investigation for wire fraud.

"We knew she was using a website, and we knew people were paying her electronically, and we knew that she was telling people that she had cancer, and she did not," Lyons said.

The investigative work of both Martinez and Lyons eventually led to Amanda C. Riley pleading guilty in federal court, admitting to scheming more than $100,000 in donations.

The judge sentenced her to five years and ordered her to pay restitution.

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The work Mosciatello, Martinez and Lyons did now set a precedent for any future cases that are similar -- something meaningful for them all.

"My twin sister had cancer the whole time during this," Lyons said. "The day of the search warrant, my mom was having surgery for breast cancer."

Lyons' sister, Kristin Kane, passed away in November 2023.

"This is what I was able to do," Lyons said. "My little fight, you know, in her name."

For his part, Martinez hopes that this empowers organizations meant to help those with cancer to ask tough questions.

"As an example of why they need to ask you for your doctor's information. It's not to create more damage to you the person who is sick," Martinez said. "But to keep people who are faking it and taking away resources from you who aren't sick."

So just how did Amanda C. Riley get away with this scam for so long, who else could have been involved, who are some of her victims?

You can find all of that out in ABC News Studios Docuseries "Scamanda" on ABC and Hulu.

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