From Cancer Scams to Global Deception Meet the Woman Who Out-Scammed Scamanda

At the start of this year, countless people were astounded by Scamanda, Hulu's real-crime documentary series, which was adapted from the enormously successful 2023 podcast of the identical title. It brought to light a mother from the Bay Area, Amanda Riley, who misled her acquaintances, religious group, and blog audience by claiming she had endured numerous, almost fatal cancer episodes — and then swindled them out of thousands of dollars in contributions and presents.

While Riley was serving her jail time for a fraud conviction, Charlie Webster, the reporter and producer responsible for the Scamanda sensation, came across another, far more audacious swindler whose level of deceit makes Riley's pale in comparison by several orders of magnitude: Candace Rivera, a single mother from Utah and the focus of Webster's astonishing new podcast, “Unicorn Girl,” which is presently topping the charts on Apple Podcasts. (Apple TV+ subscribers can watch all nine episodes consecutively; for those without a subscription, new installments air every Monday, with the final episode appearing on October 7.)

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Similar to Riley, Rivera did fabricate stories about having stomach and later breast cancer, yet this was merely one of a multitude of falsehoods she propagated. Presenting herself as a self-made female entrepreneur with several businesses and a global philanthropist/humanitarian, Rivera manipulated not only friends and Salt Lake City's elite, but also international aid workers, the Department of Homeland Security, and even an elite Black Ops squad. She asserted that her now ex-husband was abusive, and that she had lost twin daughters in a car crash. Claiming to be a certified nurse, she carried out procedures and administered medications to hundreds of ill, injured children in Ukraine and Uganda — all without possessing any medical license whatsoever. She lied and greatly exaggerated about rescuing orphans, refugees, and victims of sex trafficking worldwide. She falsely stated that she had clearance with the Department of Defense, had communicated with Hillary Clinton regarding an international operation, was an FBI agent, a member of the UN Task Force, and had spent time incarcerated in a Turkish prison.

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Secretly cashing out her husband's 401K during their marriage without his approval to settle her personal debts, Rivera later embezzled charitable funds to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a opulent residence, costly vehicles, and extravagant hotel stays abroad during humanitarian missions — all without paying rent or mortgage payments, as Webster uncovered.

On a more personal level, Rivera pressured her female friends, most of whom were conservative Mormons or Christians, to participate in "boudoir shoots" at her home — badgering them to wear lingerie or undress for sexualized photo sessions that left the women feeling violated. This was "entirely about power, control, asserting herself as this individual who constantly pushed boundaries," Charlie Webster told Us Weekly in a recent interview. Rivera was found guilty on nine felony charges last October for fraud, forgery, and the theft of at least $2 million related to her anti-human-trafficking organization, Exitus. (She was initially accused of a staggering 42 felonies.)

Webster first received a tip about Rivera through, of all things, a women's fan club / book group on Facebook dedicated to Christian author Jen Hatmaker.

"After Scamanda, I was deeply interested in messy, complicated female friendships. I really wanted to delve into that, and then someone told me about this woman," Webster recollected. "She was a member of this book group, and she said 'There's a woman in our book group, and I don't think she's right. I think she's misleading people. I think she's lying.'" Like Riley, Rivera had a tendency to extensively overshare about her challenging personal life, and "was using this book group like a personal journal."

Before she realized it, Webster dedicated "a holiday weekend" to meticulously reviewing Rivera's extensive posts, "so captivated and absorbed in everything she was writing about. It just seemed so extreme and so fantastical … I felt there was so much more."

Sensing another astonishing podcast in the making, Webster traveled from her native U.K. to Utah "on a whim," and discovered a completely different perspective of Rivera from women who were unaware of the book group, but were even more captivated by her — some of whom assisted her in establishing and managing Exitus.

From that point, Webster began dissecting Rivera's elaborate fabrications — from her alleged traumas to what she had genuinely achieved as a supposed businesswoman, activist, and humanitarian who was "busily saving the world." One instance: She secured a free private plane charter, transporting a Black Ops Team to aid in evacuating refugees from Afghanistan … but she never got closer to the conflict zone than her luxury hotel room in Dubai, despite claiming otherwise.

"Many of her deceptions are rooted in truth, but it was never sufficient," Webster told Us. "She could never state 'I helped rescue one child' … That wasn't enough for her." (Rivera once asserted that she rescued 1,000 children from Afghanistan.) "One was not enough, so everything had to be on an immense scale. She lied on such a self-aggrandizing scale."

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While Rivera managed to trick affluent, powerful individuals and organizations, her main targets were the vulnerable, many of whom unknowingly helped her execute her schemes. "Candace preys on individuals who were experiencing difficulties, going through trauma … this woman was divorcing, this man was divorcing, this one was involved in a custody dispute," Webster explained. Rivera also employed, housed, and subsequently betrayed a woman who was a survivor of extensive childhood sexual abuse.

"There were so many victims truly traumatized and harmed by her," said Webster, who formed connections with these women during the investigation and subsequent trial. "Some people I met still couldn't quite grasp what was happening, [they] couldn't distinguish what was real from what wasn't."

So, is she a sociopath? Rivera has never received a diagnosis for any mental disorder. "Mental health was not a component of the case," Webster states. "Her uncle described her as a pathological liar, and there have been discussions surrounding her pathology. She undeniably lacks empathy, she definitely exhibits narcissistic tendencies. There's a detachment. I think she genuinely believes her own falsehoods."

"Everything she did stemmed from a savior complex — that she was more significant than anyone, she was special, she could accomplish anything. She claimed she was untouchable, she could gain entry anywhere."

And, like an addict, the more spectacular Rivera's fabricated exploits became, the greater her craving for attention and admiration grew. "She proclaimed she was like Jesus to these people. She compared herself to Mother Teresa. She thought she was superior to everyone else."

Imprisoned for nearly a year since her conviction, Rivera, who declined to communicate with Webster, will discover the full length of her prison sentence this November. But she has remained active in the interim: During her confinement, she married another man she met through correspondence named Brad, and steadfastly maintains her innocence.

"Candace has not accepted responsibility for her actions. She is telling some people that it's a conspiracy theory," Webster cautions. "She's still lying in prison … She's that calculating and very clever."