A new docuseries is investigating how Christian mommy blogger Amanda Riley, now known as Scamanda, duped her followers out of more than $100,000 after faking cancer.

Scamanda is a four-part ABC News Studio special focused on the crimes of Amanda Christine Riley, who was sentenced to five years in prison back in 2022. The series is based on the podcast of the same name, which investigated how Riley concocted a fake medical crisis in order to garner fame and fortune.

Riley’s scam began in 2012, when she launched her blog titled “Lymphoma Can Suck It,” falsely claiming that she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She posted photos of her “treatments” and falsified medical documents to bolster her claims. After a brief remission, she claimed, her condition had progressed to stage 4 metastatic cancer.

Included on her blog was a donation button, where followers could send money to help with “Scamanda’s” fictitious treatments. Between September 2012 and January 2019, she swindled family, friends, followers, and fellow churchgoers out of $105,513, according to court documents.

“This came on suddenly, it came on hard,” church member Lindsey Wilder tells ABC News in the special. “And she didn’t deserve to be going through something so hard.”

‘Scamanda’ investigates how Riley faked cancer—and How it all fell apart

The Scamanda special also dives into how Riley’s story eventually unraveled.

Her babysitter, Mahasti Ameli, recalls being skeptical when Riley got pregnant when she was allegedly undergoing intense cancer treatments.

“After all this chemo and radiation she had, she’s pregnant,” the babysitter said. “I said, ‘Amanda, what’s happening now with you being pregnant?’”

Ameli recalls Riley replying, “‘Oh, my doctor said I could stop the chemo and radiation or anything that is for my cancer till the baby’s born. And then we could start again.’”

Another friend, Lisa Berry, recalls feeling uneasy about the fame Riley was gaining online.

“At some point, I started reading her blog. She’s posting pictures and I just was surprised seeing all the attention that she’s getting for it,” Berry shares. “There was just something inside of me just saying this isn’t right.”

“She told me that she had just had fluid drained off her brain in the hospital,” the former friend adds. “So she was coming from the hospital and she swam underwater (at a backyard pool), after having fluid drained off her brain? I knew that wasn’t right. And I start going through my mind and thinking about all the stories she told me.”

In July 2020, Riley was charged with wire fraud in “a scheme to solicit donations from individuals to help her pay for cancer treatments she never needed nor received.” She pleaded guilty in 2022 and was ordered to pay restitution and sentenced to 60 months in prison.

“There was just something inside of me just saying this isn’t right.”

In 2023, British journalist Charlie Webster dove into Riley’s story on the Scamanda podcast. The eight-part series became one of the most popular podcasts of the year.

Webster is also interviewed in the ABC News docuseries. She says she’s been in contact with Riley throughout her imprisonment and since her December 2024 release.

“In the period of time I’ve been speaking to her, which is probably well over 18 months now, we’ve had some video calls in prison and spoken over email and via phone,” she explains.

“And Amanda has told me she is sorry. She’s been extremely upset at times and talked about wanting to serve her time, wanting to try and be a mom, make amends with people. And she does acknowledge what she’s done, which I think is very interesting.”