For 7 years, Amanda Riley shared her cancer battle from hospital. It was all a lie.

In the prime of her life, Amanda Christine Riley was dealt a cruel hand.

In October 2012, the much-loved school principal and new mum shared the heartbreaking news that she’d been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had little hope of survival.

Deciding to document her cancer journey on her blog ‘Lymphoma Can Suck It’, Amanda built a dedicated and loyal following across social media, too.

Amanda Riley's public battle with 'cancer'.

She also had a support page called ‘Amanda’s Battle With Cancer’ where family, friends and followers could donate money to assist with her treatment.

For seven years, the self-confessed devout Christian shared photos from her hospital stays, wrote about the chemotherapy drugs she was taking and documented her side effects.

When she lost all her hair, Amanda bravely bared her bald head online.

Then a miracle happened. Amanda not only told followers she’d beaten cancer, but she’d also fallen pregnant with her second child, who she referred to as her “miracle baby”.

But her happiness didn’t last long...

"I just relapsed again, with no treatment I’ll maybe make it two to three months," she shared in a devastating update.

She claimed this time the lymphoma had returned 'with a vengeance' as stage-4 metastatic cancer.

But it was all a lie.

Not only was the now 37-year-old not dying, she’d never had cancer at all.

The twisted story of how her ruse unravelled is now the subject of the hit podcast, Scamanda.

Watch the story of how Australian woman, Belle Gibson, faked a cancer diagnosis. Post continues below.

What did Amanda Riley or 'Scamanda' do?

According to prosecutors, the former school principal solicited money from 349 individuals who donated to her with the belief it would go towards her medical expenses.

In reality, over the seven-year period she pocketed $105,513 USD.

Amanda’s deception was so convincing, some of her own family members wholeheartedly believed she was dying.

"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 US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

"In truth, Riley had no medical expenses. The donations she received were deposited into her personal bank accounts and used to pay her living expenses."

Authorities also alleged the mum-of-two shaved her head and created fake medical records to bolster her story.

She even went as far as to sue an investigative producer who started looking into her story following an anonymous tip-off.

And as for the hospital photos?

"She did things like said she fainted or that she wasn't feeling very well and then took herself to the emergency room. And then she would say things like she got dehydrated, or she had cancer and she was dehydrated," Scamanda host, Charlie Webster, told Glamour.

"So then they immediately put her on a drip, and then, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap. She'd turn up in different ER rooms and then take photographs. She also would get medical equipment."

'Scamanda' gets caught.

But by 2019, the Internal Revenue Service and the San Jose Police had conducted an investigation and charged Riley with one count of wire fraud. She pleaded guilty the following year.

When she was sentenced to five years behind bars and ordered to pay restitution in May 2022, Riley’s brother, Tom Maneri, insisted his sister’s actions “most likely started out as an outcry for attention and help”.

“I’m confident she was in too deep and didn’t know how to climb back out of the hole she had been digging for so long. After you’ve been living with a big lie on your chest for years, I can imagine it becomes part of your identity.”

Did Amanda Riley have Münchausen's?

Following Amanda Riley being placed in jail, her team attempted to have her released early.

However, prosecutors argued against the effort, saying that she may have Münchausen syndrome, per the San Francisco Chronicle.

The prosecutors said that she had continued to lie about having maladies while serving out her sentence.

Her lawyers say that the illnesses are genuine, but multiple doctors and a nurse have written that they believe she has Münchausen, while a fourth doctor actually handed down a diagnosis for it.

Prosecutors argued her sentence should be kept the same due to questions about her "credibility". During her prison time, Riley reportedly went to emergency 12 times, complaining of various symptoms including chest pain, rapid heart beat, and a cut to the head.

Attorney Michael Pitman said that medical professionals had caught her holding her breath during oxygen tests and stressing her body on purpose to speed up the heart rate.

"Perhaps not surprisingly, however, defendant's medical records make clear that she does not actually suffer from any acute health problems at all," Pitman shared, adding that she "exhibited symptoms of Münchausen syndrome".

At this stage, she will not be eligible for early release.

"The court is satisfied that [five years] of imprisonment is the fair and proper sentence at this time," federal judge Beth Labson Freeman wrote.

Feature Image: Facebook.

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