A family was left stunned after learning that the troubled 12-year-old girl they had adopted more than a year earlier was actually a 37-year-old woman.
The woman, whose name has not been released by police, was arrested in the city of Joinville, Brazil, after authorities uncovered a pattern of fraud across the country.
The case began when the suspect approached a church in Joinville and told a pastor she had escaped mistreatment in the northern state of Pará.
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Feeling sorry for the woman, members of the religious community reportedly began providing financial assistance and helped her find temporary housing.
Eventually, a family decided to welcome into their home someone they believed was a child named Gabriele.
According to investigators, the 37-year-old told her adoptive family that she had autism and other medical conditions.
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To explain her adult appearance, “Gabriele” alleged that she had been forced to take hormones as a child after suffering mistreatment at the hands of her former family.
The fraudster avoided discussions about official adoption procedures and never showed identification documents.
She also managed to avoid attending school after begging the family not to enroll her, claiming she feared her violent father would find her.
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“The girl didn’t go to school because she managed to convince her adoptive family that if she went to school, the ‘ab*sive father’ would know where she was,” Rodrigo Bueno Gusso, a Civil Police chief, told TV Globo.
To maintain her lie, the suspect reportedly exhibited childish behavior, including speaking in a higher-pitched voice and using baby bottles, pacifiers, and a comfort cloth to sleep.
Moreover, she allegedly faked panic attacks during the night to convince the family that she was mentally unwell and elicit sympathy from them.
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The scam lasted approximately 14 months, during which the family became emotionally attached to the fraudster and even threw her a 12th birthday party.
The victims had grown so fond of the woman that they considered formally adopting her, local media reported.
However, the deception crumbled when a relative alerted the police to a situation they found suspicious.
After investigating the matter, authorities arrested the woman on Tuesday (June 2). The 37-year-old “fully confessed to committing the crimes” during questioning, police said.
The woman was charged with fraud and false identity offenses before being taken to Joinville Regional Prison.
The investigation revealed that the suspect is a repeat offender in this type of scam. According to CNN Brasil, she had orchestrated similar schemes in other parts of the country, including the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and Goiás.
In 2023, she reportedly posed as a 12-year-old girl named Maria Eduarda. She told her caretakers that she was on the spectrum and had suffered mistreatment and violent witchcraft rituals.
At the time, she convinced a former city councilwoman and the head of a social project for vulnerable children to support her, rent and furnish a home for her, and help her obtain psychological care.
According to local media outlet O Dia, the woman alleged that her father had given her hormones to make her look older so she could be pr*stituted in São Paulo.
The woman is believed to have inserted up to 100 needles into her own body to trick people into believing she was the victim of black magic rituals carried out by her father.
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A media report at the time identified her as Amanda Maria Sousa Oliveira.
Growing suspicious of the woman’s claims, politicians and people involved in social projects reported the case to the police.
São Paulo police conducted examinations to prove that her bone structure belonged to an adult.
She was arrested in 2023 while attempting to flee her home. The suspect was calmed down and taken to a police station for questioning.
At the police station, investigators reportedly found searches on her phone related to how autistic people behave, as well as drawings depicting people with depression.
The 37-year-old was released a day later after a court granted her provisional freedom under precautionary measures.
In her testimony, she claimed that she suffered from mental disorders.
The fraudster reportedly maintained her scams by frequently moving between different states and changing her name.
At the time of her latest arrest, her previous cases remained open or active.
Investigators discovered she had allegedly carried out similar schemes across Brazil
Former councilwoman Renata Magalhães, one of the victims of the scam, recounted on social media how she fell for the woman’s lies.
“She wanted to drain our emotions; she made drawings as if there were monsters behind her, as if she had a mental disturbance,” Magalhães wrote.
“I went to the market, I did the shopping, and she kept insisting on staying close to me. I went to sleep with her, and she was having meltdowns…It was a narrative that convinced us that she was 12 years old, that she had autism, that she had suffered violence.”
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Magalhães concluded by warning people to be wary of unproven claims that trivialize mental health conditions.
“We know that autism is a serious, real condition. This experience of mine will not prevent me from continuing to help people, but it serves as a warning; we have to act with our hearts and also with reason.”
An O Dia report states that the fraudster admitted to her lies during a 2023 police investigation. She claimed that she began lying about her identity after she was s*xually ab*sed by her father and her mother did not believe her.
She also said she inserted needles into her body because she was deeply distressed and realized that people were moved by her story, helping her with shelter, clothing, food, medicine, and money.
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