ATLANTA, GA (CBS46) — An Atlanta woman’s alleged hoax is up after friends discovered her terminal cancer story was all a possible lie.
Two friends of Erin Talpey were conned into believing that their friend had terminal brain cancer and only months to live.
Being sympathetic, friends helped Talpey raise over $18,000 over the course of a few months.
Talpey even reportedly shaved her head and put a medicine port on her chest to make her story believable.
Friends created a facebook page along with a YouCaring.com page and assisted Talpley with her elaborate hoax, one friend says she was emotionally invested and spent time raising money and caring about her friend.
The friends say they started getting suspicious after they tried to send gifts to her “room” at the Mayo Clinic but Talpey insisted, “‘Oh, I don’t want anyone to send me anything. They can just send it to my house in Atlanta.'”
Friends looked into their suspicions and found that Mayo Clinic had no patient under that name at the hospital.
Atlanta’s CBS 46 news reporter, Frank Wiley, got involved after Talpey contacted him to do an interview, but Wiley reportedly got a call from her friends saying, “don’t do it.”
After Wiley was informed of the hoax he tried to visit her home, Talpey reportedly answered his phone call and told him she would call back but hasn’t since.
A text to friends showed that Talpey was in the town of Sedona, Arizona north of Phoenix where she was supposed to be treated.
No one has seen or heard from Talpey since.
