Woman, 38, who posed as 12-year-old girl using child’s voice & carrying teddy to trick family into adoption is jailed

A CREEPY fraudster who pretended to be a 12-year-old girl has been jailed for tricking families into adopting her. Amanda Maria Souza de Oliveira, 37, was convicted of fraud and using a false identity to deceive a couple into taking her in for 14 months. Oliveira acted like a 12-year-old girl to deceive her victims Credit: Newsflash/NX She used childlike behaviour to maintain her deception Credit: Newsflash/NX The court heard how Oliveira conned a couple by posing as a traumatised child – using a childlike voice, dummies and baby bottles to maintain her deception. They found she deliberately created a fake identity and sentenced her to a total of one year, 10 months and 28 days in jail. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The twisted case was heard in Joinville, Brazil, with testimony from the couple who took her in, along with police and other experts. The couple treated her like a daughter, giving her accommodation, money, food, medication, and other care. The couple gave her a bedroom filled with toys Credit: Newsflash/NX Oliveira says she lied but did not intend to scam anyone Credit: Newsflash/NX Oliveira also scammed the couple into giving her a bedroom filled with toys and throwing her a “12th birthday party” – despite being 38. She initially introduced herself as an 18-year-old called “Gabriele”, saying she had experience in baking and was looking for work. After gaining the couple’s trust, she changed her story, claiming that she was actually 11-years-old and had suffered abuse and abandonment. Oliveira claimed to have autism and other health problems, saying her adult appearance was because she had been “forced to take hormones during childhood”. Most read in The Sun The couple also paid for her weight-loss treatment using the prescription drug tirzepatide. She deceived the couple to obtain “the full cost of her own subsistence”, the court heard. The judge said she had acted consciously “to induce and maintain the victims in error” in order to obtain material benefits through the false identity. The case unravelled when a relative of the couple became suspicious of Oliveira and found reports online of previous cases in Brazil involving her. Cops were contacted at the end of May and Oliveira was arrested at their home on June 2. During questioning, she told police that she was actually from Ceara not Para, while also admitting to using a false name and age. Evidence from the trial included a forensic examination of her phone, statements from victims and witnesses, and her own admission that she used false personal details. Investigators were also able to link Oliveira to similar alleged scams in at least seven Brazilian states, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she allegedly posed as “Emily” – a 13-year-old girl suffering from terminal leukaemia. One woman reportedly had the name “Emily” tattooed on her wrist after becoming emotionally attached to what she believed to be a child. Another case in 2017 involved social worker Delma Soares, who said Oliveira stayed with her in Belo Horizonte after posing as a vulnerable teenager called Karolina. Delma said: “She liked to wear children’s clothes with childish designs.” Oliveira reportedly arrived with injuries caused by needles and wire, with hospital examinations finding objects in her body. Another alleged victim, nutritionist Renata Magalhaes, detailed how Oliveira maintained the scam saying: “Her phone was full of searches [on] how an autistic person behaves and how to make drawings to move evangelical people. “She is a person who puts on a character like a coat and creates a totally fake narrative.” Renata also alleged that Amanda swallowed needles and later vomited them in front of her. Oliveira previously denied intending to defraud anyone, saying: “It is clear that I deceived people, I lied.” Her defence argued that her identities were a survival tactic, not a deliberate fraud. Oliveira’s lawyer Lucio Sousa described her actions as “the way she found to survive”.