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It is truly astonishing what some adults will try and get away with in order to avoid adult responsibilities, like paying their own way in life. A thirty-seven-year-old woman pretended to be a 12-year-old girl while staying with her adoptive family in Brazil for over a year. While she was with the family, she took on childish behaviors, like drinking from a bottle and talking in a super high-pitched voice. When the truth was finally revealed, authorities found proof of other fraudulent behavior the woman performed over the years. You seriously cannot make this stuff up!
A 37-year-old woman tricked an adoptive family into thinking she was a 12-year-old girl.
According to Bored Panda, a family in Brazil was left reeling after they learned that the 12-year-old girl they had adopted over a year earlier was actually a 37-year-old woman who had been deliberately lying to them and posing as a tween.
Everything started when the suspect approached a church in Joinville, Brazil, and she divulged to a pastor that she had “escaped mistreatment in the Northern state of Pará.” Members of the religious community heard her story and began providing financial assistment and offered her temporary housing.
A family welcomed who they thought was a child named Gabriele into their home. She told them she had autism and other health ailments, including being forced to take hormones as a child after suffering abuse, which would help explain her adult appearance.
Sadly, they even threw her a 12th birthday party.
According to the The US Sun, detectives reported that the 37-year-old also adopted childish mannerisms and behaviors to pull off her scheme. She allegedly used baby bottles, pacifiers, and even had a “comfort cloth” to sleep with.
She further scammed her adoptive family by pretending to suffer from panic attacks during the night and taking on a high-pitched voice that she would talk in around them, per The US Sun. She would also behave in an “emotionally dependent way in order to garner attention and sympathy.”
To take things to another level, the family also threw the woman posing as Gabriele a 12th birthday party. They also were paying for her obesity medication. The family was also considering making the adoption legal, but the 37-year-old woman continuously avoided those conversations and never had a legal identification on her person.
Thankfully, she was arrested for fraud.
According to The US Sun, the woman, who the local media was calling Amanda Maria Sousa Oliviera, and her ongoing scam was revealed after a relative alerted local authorities. She confessed and was charged with fraud and false identity offences. Authorities reported that she had prior records of similar scams in several South American cities.
To even further add to the weird, investigators discovered that she had “jabbed herself with with at least 100 needles to support her fake abuse narrative.” X-rays revealed more than 100 needles in her body, per The US Sun. How absolutely horrific.
Some folks on Reddit found this story completely unbelievable, which is not difficult to understand considering all the strange details. Most had a hard time coming to terms with how people actually believed her story that she was just a tween. One person commented, “No sane person would think this is a 11 year old 💀.”
Another person couldn’t help but crack a joke and compare the whole situation to a popular horror movie. They wrote, “Wait, I’ve seen this movie. Did she try to kill the mom and run away with the dad?”
Most of us would like to think that we wouldn’t fall for something like this, but when emotions are high and there’s someone posing as a child in need right in front of you, how can you really be sure?
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