According to China Press, a brazilian police have reportedly uncovered an unusual fraud case involving a 37 year old woman who allegedly pretended to be a 12 year old girl and managed to convince a family to take her in and raise her for around 14 months.
According to reports by the Daily Mail, the woman allegedly used the fake name “Gabriele” and initially approached a church for help, claiming that she was a minor who had escaped an abusive family in Pará, northern Brazil.
After gaining the trust of a pastor and members of the church, she reportedly received financial assistance and was eventually referred to a family willing to take her in.
The family reportedly treated their supposed “daughter” with affection and care. To maintain the appearance of being a child, the woman allegedly used a baby bottle and pacifier and slept with a comfort blanket.
She also reportedly spoke in a higher-pitched voice and occasionally pretended to suffer from panic attacks at night, apparently to convince the family that she was a vulnerable child who needed protection.
The family even organised a 12th birthday party for her and reportedly planned to pay for weight loss medication while preparing to formally adopt her.
To avoid going to school, she allegedly claimed that she was afraid her abusive father would find her. This reportedly made the family even more sympathetic towards her.
However, the elaborate deception eventually began to unravel when a relative of the family became suspicious and contacted police.
According to investigators, the woman had allegedly used similar tactics in other parts of Brazil, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
Police reportedly discovered that she had previously posed as a 12 year old girl in another case in 2023, claiming to have suffered abuse and involvement in alleged “witchcraft rituals” in order to gain sympathy.
In that case, investigators reportedly found an especially disturbing element to the alleged deception: she had allegedly injured herself and inserted more than 100 needles into her body to reinforce her claims of being a victim.
The latest investigation eventually revealed that the “12 year old girl” was actually a 37-year-old woman.
Brazilian authorities reportedly arrested her on June 2, and she is currently being held while investigators investigate alleged fraud and identity related offences.
For the family who had cared for her for more than a year, the revelation was undoubtedly shocking.
What they believed was a vulnerable child in need of a safe home had allegedly turned out to be an elaborate identity scam… complete with a birthday party, plans for adoption and a family that had genuinely grown attached to her.
Jovy Jing (ndreagoh@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
.png?width=1200&auto=webp&trim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)