Brazil woman arrested for posing as 12-year-old girl

A 38-year-old woman, Amanda Maria Souza de Oliveira, was arrested in Joinville, Santa Catarina, after posing as a 12-year-old girl for 14 months within a Brazilian family. The couple, who believed they were providing a home to a child in need, discovered the deception after noticing behavioral anomalies and finding similar reports online.

Investigators revealed that de Oliveira had been impersonating a child for approximately 15 years across various regions of Brazil. To maintain the ruse, she reportedly disguised her voice and prevented the family from enrolling her in school or formalizing legal guardianship by claiming a biological father might track her through public records. She was taken into custody at the family's residence.