Hosted By: Charlie Webster

Scamanda is a true crime podcast that tells the story of Amanda Riley, a woman who faked cancer for nearly a decade. Riley duped her friends, family, and community into believing she was dying of a terminal illness, raising over $100,000 in donations to help her pay for her “treatment.”

Scamanda Podcast Host:

Charlie Webster is an award-winning journalist who first heard about Riley’s story in 2021. Webster spent two years investigating Riley’s case, interviewing her friends, family, and investigators. The result is a gripping eight-episode podcast that takes listeners on a journey into the dark heart of deception.

Praise from Listeners*:

• Character Complexity: Riley is clearly a very intelligent and charismatic woman, but she is also deeply insecure and manipulative. Webster does a great job of humanizing Riley even as she exposes her lies.
• Personal Interviews: The podcast also features interviews with Riley’s friends, family, and investigators, who provide their own insights into Riley’s personality and motivations, which listeners enjoy.
• Suspenseful Storytelling: According to listeners, Webster does an excellent job of weaving together the different threads of the investigation that keep listeners guessing what will happen next.

Criticisms from Listeners*:

• Too Focused on Riley: Listeners felt that the podcast was too focused on Riley and her story, and not enough on the victims of her scam.
• Potential Inaccuracies: Some listeners have pointed out inaccuracies in the podcast, such as the fact that Riley’s cancer was never actually diagnosed.
• Podcast Length: Listeners felt that it was too long for a story that could have been told in fewer episodes.

* The True Crime Connection teams aims to keep this as an unbiased search database. In order to do this, we curate what people love the most and the least about a podcast by analysing ApplePodcast reviews.

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Features

• Serialized
• Single Host