Now things have changed. With social media and cell phones, it’s harder to keep diseases a secret from others. It’s also easier than ever to fake them — and to make a profit doing so.

Pretending to have cancer isn’t something new, but it’s been made far more profitable thanks to the internet.

“Donation scammers” invite the whole town to bogus fundraisers through Facebook. They buy medical devices online, use them for selfies, and then post them on Instagram.

And, with crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter, they can prey directly on people’s generosity and sympathy. Victims give away their hard-earned money with a mere click.

Fortunately, there are those like Adrienne Gonzalez who knows that the internet is an easy place to perpetuate lies. In 2015, she started GoFraudMe, a blog dedicated to sniffing out fake GoFundMe campaigns. GoFundMe is easily one of the most successful online fundraising companies; a new campaign is purportedly created on the site every 18 seconds. In its first six years, it raised $3 billion in donations from 25 million donors.

In addition to those cliché “Nigerian Princes” asking for money, Gonzalez has observed all sorts of people taking part in scams, from refugees to soccer moms.

“I’ve seen scammers of all ages, education levels, sexes, different races. It could be your neighbor, your coworker, even your own mother,” she told OK Whatever in an email. “I never know what I’m going to see.”

Bogus fundraisers, she’s noticed, tend to proliferate after large-scale tragedies as people see opportunities to concoct false narratives and capitalize off the goodwill of others. Campaigns to fund funerals are also common. People have even made up bullying stories involving their kids to make a buck.

Cancer scams, however, take the cake for being the most timeless and popular.

“I've reported on far too many fake cancer schemes in the last two or so years,” Gonzalez said.

Cancer schemes have their own section on the GoFraudMe website, plus a list ranking the top 10 worst fake scam cases.