38-year-old posed as 12, played sexual victim, to dupe multiple people into taking her in

A 38-year-old woman appeared in court for duping several people by posing as a 12-year-old and getting them to take care of her. Amanda Maria Souza de Oliveira was arrested in Brazil in June for the fraud. She managed to convince a couple that she was a child who then adopted her. She lived in a room full of toys and children's furnishings, got them to shell out money for her expenses and even had a 12th birthday party. She spoke like a child too, and no one suspected that she was an adult.

When the police entered her room, she panicked and started speaking in her regular voice. Amanda has been charged with fraud and false identity. It was later revealed that she had done the same thing to many others by claiming that she had run away from her home because her father physically and sexually abused her. She used the lie to get other people to take care of her.

A hearing happened in Joinville, in northern Santa Catarina, Brazil, where the family with whom Amanda was last living also appeared. Prosecutors told the court that Amanda met people with a fake identity, that of Gabriele Ferreira dos Santos, and claimed to be 11. She later changed her age to 12.

To make her claim more convincing, Amanda used props like a baby bottle, an infantilised voice, and toys. Since she was a full-grown woman, she had to come up with a reason for her appearance. Amanda told the family that she was autistic and was forcibly given hormones. She told the police that she did not intend to defraud anyone. "It is clear that I deceived people; I lied. But I did not intend to scam anyone," she said.

Amanda's lawyers argued no one suffered financial losses

Her defence lawyer, Lucio Sousa, also presented the same argument, arguing she did not cheat anyone out of money and that what she did was merely a survival strategy. He added that she did not commit robbery or theft, and there were no grounds to prove fraud in the case. Amanda’s lawyer Sarita de Paiva told the media that she was simply seeking love and affection that she did not get as a child.

Amanda told people she was sexually abused

But the police presented others who had been deceived by Amanda over 10 years. Social worker Delma Soares said she lived with her under the name of Karolina in 2017, claiming she was being sexually preyed on. She asked Delma if she helped people affected by prostitution and child abuse. "She had the posture and behaviour of a teenager. She liked to wear children’s clothes with childish designs," the social worker said. While living with her, she started noticing signs that she was not a teenager but an adult, but had no way to prove it. People did not believe her.

In 2023, Amanda presented herself as an autistic teenager who had suffered abuse to nutritionist Renata Magalhaes. She acted like a child and used drawings and emotional episodes to convince her into believing that she was a child. Amanda's phone search history was on "how an autistic person behaves and how to make drawings to move evangelical people," Renata said.

Amanda inserted nails and wires into her own body

She was once taken to the hospital with injuries caused by needles and pieces of wire. Renata said that she inserted needles into herself and later vomited them in front of her. Renata said that while people are making jokes about it, Amanda is a "fraudster, a narcissist, and a dangerous woman." Amanda duped her during the COVID-19 pandemic by telling her she was 13 years old and suffering from terminal leukaemia. Another woman even had her name tattooed on her hand after becoming close to her.

Amanda's lawyers have requested her release, and the verdict is expected in five days.