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Amanda Riley – the woman behind the Scamanda scandal – is serving a five-year prison sentence for wire fraud after faking a cancer diagnosis to scam donations.
However, during the Thursday, February 20 finale of Scamanda – the ABC special about her story – viewers received an unexpected update on her current health status. Before the episode ended, producer Charlie Webster (who also hosts the popular podcast by the same name) disclosed an off the record conversation with Riley, 39, and shared that she continues to claim to suffer from “health problems,” although he was unsure whether this was true.
‘Scamanda’/ABC/HULU
For those out of the loop, Riley, once a seemingly cheerful wife and mother from a wealthy Bay Area suburb, used her blog and staged photos to fabricate near-death experiences with cancer, gathering donations, gifts, and even celebrity perks along the way. This ultimately led to her conviction in 2021 for wire fraud, and she has been in prison since 2022.
In an interview with Us Weekly shared on the same day, Webster revealed that Riley has expressed deep regret for her actions. “She regrets everything she’s done. Every single day… Now she’s in a situation where she has lost everything,” Webster said to the outlet.
Despite not participating in the podcast or documentary, Riley has kept in touch with Webster, who is wary of manipulation but has found her to be “nice” during their conversations. When asked why she didn’t try to stop her story once she was too far in, Webster recalled: “She told me that she did try to stop and then was worried about losing everything… But she didn’t. She just carried on because then people would ask her [for health updates], right? She just dug herself in deeper and couldn’t get out of it.”
The podcast host also told the outlet that Amanda is currently in the middle of divorcing her husband, Cory Riley. The two have been married since 2011 and share two children, Carter and Connor.
Amanda’s fraudulent scheme began to unravel after investigative producer Nancy Moscatiello was tipped off by Amanda’s former friend, Lisa Berry, which led to a police investigation. Her sentence is set to end with her release on December 9, 2025.