A Pennsylvania woman accused of faking terminal brain cancer to scam her friends and family out of more than $10,000 is now on the FBI’s most wanted list.
Investigators have renewed their search for Vanessa O’Rourke, 37, who allegedly used GoFundMe donations to fund a vacation to Australia instead of medical care.
O’Rourke said in 2015 that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and often fatal form of brain cancer.
She told family and friends she needed to travel to Australia for experimental medical care between October 2015 and July 2016, according to a new FBI release.
O’Rourke, who was a 28-year-old brain surgery student with Temple Med at the time, made $11,740 in donations from more than 140 people as part of what prosecutors called a ‘nauseating’ fraud scheme.
‘Through her false and fraudulent pretenses, her family and others provided money and support,’ the FBI said in a statement.
O’Rourke is believed to have traveled to Australia in April 2016, where she ‘engaged in a variety of leisure activities and did not receive any medical treatment’.
After the vacation, she returned to her home in Harleysville, just outside of Philadelphia, and persuaded her relatives to launch a fundraising page for her.
Vanessa O’Rourke, 37, who is accused of faking terminal brain cancer to scam her friends and family out of more than $10,000 before fleeing to Australia is now on the FBI’s most wanted list
Investigators have renewed their search for O’Rourke, 37, who allegedly used the donations to fund a luxury vacation to Australia instead of the medical treatment she claimed she needed
O’Rourke fled to Queensland, Australia. Queensland’s Gold Coast is pictured above
The family even held a benefit event at a local restaurant with $20 entry, and O’Rourke used the funds they raised to travel to Australia again later in 2016, detectives said.
She was indicted on 15 counts of wire fraud in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 3, 2018.
Vanessa O’Rourke pictured by the FBI in 2016
An international arrest warrant was issued, but investigators have been unable to track down the accused fraudster.
William McSwain, who was the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania at the time, called the allegations against O’Rourke ‘nauseating.’
‘O’Rourke is charged with preying upon the kindness and generosity of good people who wished to help those in need,’ he said in a statement issued in 2020.
‘As alleged, there was no need here – only lies, greed and callous manipulation.’
Prosecutors said that she was believed to be residing in Queensland, Australia.
Local newspapers which published O’Rourke’s fundraiser in 2016 said her relatives wrote on the page that she was studying at Temple Med in Philadelphia to become a brain surgeon.
O’Rourke is the latest in a series of high-profile cancer fraudsters who have exploited online fundraising platforms for financial gain in recent years.
Amanda Christine Riley, 37, was sentenced in May 2022 to five years in prison for soliciting more than $100,000 in donations for cancer treatments – despite not having cancer
Madison Russo, 20, a college student from Iowa was spared jail in June 2023 after falsely claiming to have cancer and documenting her ‘battle’ on social media
Amanda Christine Riley became one of the most notorious ‘fake cancer’ scammers after she received more than $100,000 in donations from supporters.
Riley was sentenced to five years in jail in May 2022 after she gained $105,513 from at least 349 people by pretending to have Hodgkin’s lymphoma on social media.
The 41-year-old California native eventually pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud after raking in donations over a seven-year period.
Beginning in 2012, Riley, who was then living in San Jose, began posting about needing to pay for medical care.
To maintain her deception, she shaved her head to make it appear as if she were receiving chemotherapy, falsified medical records, and forged physicians’ letters and medical certifications.
She deposited the donations into her personal bank accounts and used the funds to pay her living expenses.
In 2019, an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the San Jose Police Department uncovered the fraud. She was arrested the following year.
Her shocking case inspired the hit ‘Scamanda’ podcast and ABC docuseries.
Federal prosecutors claimed Riley created had a blog, Lymphoma Can Suck It, which included a link to the support page shown above with a ‘donate now’ button
Russo, 20, wrote on TikTok, GoFundMe, Facebook and LinkedIn that she had pancreatic cancer, leukemia and a football-sized tumor wrapped around her spine
More recently, a college student from Iowa was spared jail in June 2023 after falsely claiming to have cancer and documenting her ‘battle’ on social media.
Madison Russo, 20, wrote on TikTok, GoFundMe, Facebook and LinkedIn that she had pancreatic cancer, leukemia and a football-sized tumor wrapped around her spine.
Russo, from Bettendorf, pleaded guilty to first-degree theft, and was ordered to pay $39,000 in restitution and a $1,370 fine.
Speaking in court at her sentencing hearing, Russo attempted to shirk responsibility by claiming she faked cancer in an attempt to make her troubled family focus on her.
‘A lot of people have made speculation as to why I did this and how somebody who looked like they had everything together could have such a mess,’ she said.
‘I didn’t do this for money or greed. I didn’t do this for attention. I did this as an attempt to get my family back together.’
Her scam, which impacted more than 400 people, unraveled when medical professionals spotted discrepancies in her story online.
Police subpoenaed her medical records and found she had never been diagnosed with cancer at any medical facility in the area. She was arrested in January.
Like these ‘fake cancer’ cases, prosecutors said that O’Rourke’s scheme relied on the trust and compassion of the people closest to her, and generous strangers who believed they were helping save a life.
Anyone with information about O’Rourke’s case should contact the FBI.
