A 38-year-old woman has been arrested in Brazil, accused of pretending to be a 12-year-old girl to deceive a couple who took her into their home for more than a year. Amanda Maria Souza de Oliveira was charged in the southern state of Santa Catarina with fraud and false identity offences.
During the nearly 16 months she lived with a couple in the city of Joinville, she reportedly had all her expenses paid, a bedroom decorated with toys and children’s furnishings, and received a party to celebrate her supposed 12th birthday. The case has been widely reported in local media, prompting widespread incredulity that the woman managed to sustain the deception for so long.
Previous Allegations
After Oliveira was arrested just over a week ago, it emerged that she had previously been charged in several other Brazilian states for allegedly carrying out similar schemes over the years. Public prosecutor Viviane Soares said in a statement that the investigation had uncovered “an elaborate fraud scheme, involving the creation of a fictitious identity and the emotional manipulation of victims in order to obtain undue advantages”.
How the Deception Unfolded
According to the couple’s account to police, Oliveira first arrived at an evangelical church they attended, introducing herself as “Gabrielle”, and claiming to be 18 years old. She reportedly said she was experiencing financial and health difficulties, prompting the couple to take her in. She then allegedly changed her story, claiming she was in fact 11 years old but appeared older because her father had forced her to take hormones and had sexually abused her. She also allegedly convinced the family not to enrol her in school or formalise any adoption process, arguing that doing so could allow her father to find her.
The deception only unravelled after an aunt who occasionally visited the family became suspicious of her age. After searching online, she found reports of a similar case in Rio de Janeiro three years earlier in which Oliveira had allegedly deceived another family in the same way. She showed the reports to the couple, and they went to the police, who arrested Oliveira on 2 June.
Police and Legal Proceedings
The police officer leading the investigation, Rodrigo Bueno Gusso, said that Oliveira reportedly admitted that she had lied to obtain financial support. Referring to the previous cases against her, he said: “Whenever she realised the lie was about to be discovered, she moved on and disappeared. Here, she didn’t have time, because she was arrested first.” Videos and photographs shared by other alleged victims show Oliveira using dummies and baby bottles, or speaking in a childlike manner.
The earliest known case involving her dates back to the late 2000s in her home state of Ceará, when, already in her twenties, she allegedly went to a police station claiming to be 12 years old and a victim of sexual abuse and forced into sex work by her own parents. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and the case went no further.
The private lawyer appointed by the public defender’s office to represent her in the current case, Rafael Luiz Siewert, said in a statement that, after reviewing the case file and interviewing Oliveira, he had “identified elements that justified requesting a psychiatric evaluation”. The judge accepted his request, and the proceedings have therefore been suspended until it is established whether Oliveira is fully capable of standing trial. In the meantime, she remains in prison.
