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True Crime with Kendall Rae

TikToker Exposed for FAKING Cancer: Maddie Russo Sentenced in Fraudulent Scheme

True Crime with Kendall Rae

Mile Higher Media & Audioboom Studios

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.65K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2024

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Madison Marie Russo was a 19-year-old college student at St. Ambrose University who, for actual reasons we may never know, decided to fake having cancer. Her scheme began on TikTok where she spread her story to thousands of people willing to listen, pray, and follow her along her “cancer journey.” It wasn’t until anonymous witnesses brought her story to the police, citing medical discrepancies in her story. Investigators subpoenaed her medical records and it confirmed what many suspected - Maddie did not have cancer. But for months, she was able to solicit $37,303 on GoFundMe, not to mention that she was supported by several foundations, funds, and schools. She tricked innocent people into giving her money to fight a disease she never had. Maddie was thankfully arrested and charged with theft by means of deception in January of 2023, and in October was finally sentenced to 3 years probation and restitution.

The Ohl Strong Foundation: https://ohlstrong.org/
Project Purple: https://www.projectpurple.org/

Scamanda episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2iOd6qpdweVxRh6IhiStjk?si=acc07fc0d7ab4b84

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This episode is sponsored by:
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Check out Kendall's other podcasts:
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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

We all have a fire inside us. It gives us energy and spirit to do the things we love.

0:06.0

Every morning we get to feed that fire and set ourselves up for the day with a warming

0:10.8

and satisfying bowl of Quaker oats.

0:13.0

Because when we feed it right, when it's fully ablaze,

0:18.0

we can take on anything the day might bring.

0:20.0

Feed more than just your body.

0:24.6

Feed the fire inside.

0:27.6

Quaker oats. Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Ray. Thank you so much for joining me and if you are new, welcome. So today we have a case that so many of you have requested that I talk about.

0:52.5

And it's something that I have been following

0:55.5

since this story first broke.

0:57.8

I actually started doing updates on it

1:00.1

on my podcast, The Cess, which is a commentary and current events opinion

1:05.9

podcast so we did quite a bit of coverage on it there but I wanted to really dive in

1:12.1

and do a full overview.

1:14.8

Yet again, we are talking about someone who faked an illness,

1:19.0

someone who faked cancer, which I've covered

1:21.2

a few cases like this in the past year and it is just mind-blowing to me how many people do this and this time we're talking about

1:29.7

Maddie Russo who was also a tic-talker, and went to pretty extreme lengths to convince people that she had cancer.

1:39.0

Now, what's different between Maddie Russo and Elizabeth Finch, who I covered earlier this year, is she was

1:47.1

held accountable for her actions. Although some people argue that it wasn't quite enough of a punishment, but we will get into all of that.

1:55.7

But before we get into Maddie's story, I have just a tiny announcement.

1:59.5

I wanted to share that we have launched a new Neckmet Collection piece and I know so many of you have

...

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