Scamanda · Lionsgate Sound

Crime Story: Charlie Webster on Amanda C. Riley’s Web of Lies

April 22, 2024·40 min·3 clips

Amanda C. Riley blogged her cancer journey for 10 years, but she never actually had cancer.

The warning comes first. Crime Story tells listeners the conversation includes difficult subject matter, with references to sexual assault, and asks them to take care. Then Amanda is named. Kathleen Goldhar lays out the public version of Amanda C. Riley's story: stage four cancer, years of relapses, and a community rallying around her fight. Then comes the turn. Amanda never had cancer. Charlie Webster spent years digging into the lies that became Scamanda. Webster has plenty of context, and Goldhar notes that they have worked together before, so the conversation has a steady, careful feel. Webster calls the behavior narcissistic and gaslighting, but she does not keep that harm inside one relationship. That is part of what makes the story so uncomfortable. The deception ran through friends, family, church relationships, and online support. Webster wanted the podcast to hold back on telling listeners what to think. She wanted people to move through the story and sit with what happened. The timing still lands hard. By the time Webster became involved, police had investigated Amanda, raided her house, and Amanda kept posting anyway. She doubled down. Webster describes Amanda adding pressure as scrutiny grew, which makes the lie feel active, not just panicked. Nancy had already done groundwork. Webster then stepped away and began her own investigation, contacting people close to Amanda and the community around her. Some people stayed off tape. They were too afraid or too ashamed to speak publicly, even when they had not helped Amanda. That shame becomes one of the episode's strongest threads. Webster keeps coming back to how betrayed people can blame themselves for not seeing the truth sooner. The host role stays humane. Webster describes reassuring people that self-blame can follow betrayal and trauma. Crime Story closes with CBC production credits and a reminder that new episodes arrive every Monday.

As heard by us

A careful look at a cancer hoax that spread through trust, faith, and online community.

Scamanda tracks Amanda C. Riley's cancer hoax through Charlie Webster's long reporting, and this Crime Story episode is at its best when it stays close to how the lie spread through friends, church circles, and online strangers.

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Why you'd press play

You want a careful account of how a fake cancer story took root and kept going.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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