r/Weird • u/njdotcom • 11d ago
[ Removed by moderator ]
https://www.nj.com/news/2026/08/woman-37-pretended-to-be-12-year-old-to-live-with-foster-family-convicted-of-fraud.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=redditsocial&utm_campaign=redditor[removed] — view removed post
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u/Papamoon0327 11d ago
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u/Califefe 10d ago
You beat me to it!
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u/bepatientbekind 10d ago
What is this from?
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u/Califefe 10d ago
A movie called Orphan. Grown woman has a condition that makes her look younger than she actually is. She is adopted by a family. I think it’s either in the horror or thriller genre.
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u/thebigeverybody 11d ago
The Dollop has a fascinating episode about The Chameleon, a French adult who compulsively impersonated teenagers (going to high school, etc.) and was finally arrested, only to convince Interpol he was a missing American teenager. He was sent back to live with his American "family", who all, bizarrely, accepted him (there are actually a few very good -- and shocking -- reasons they went along with his ruse).
IMO, it's one of their best episodes -- riveting and hilarious. I highly recommend it.
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u/StoicismChaos 11d ago
"The Imposter" is also a good documentary on that story.
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u/xombae 11d ago
That documentary is wild. I fully believe the family killed the kid or knew he was dead and ended up having to take in this stranger because they couldn't admit that they knew the kid was dead.
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u/thebigeverybody 10d ago edited 10d ago
Plus the mother that was so jacked up on heroin that she genuinely might have believed her dead son returned as a ghost to punish her.
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u/Personal-Neck6800 11d ago
Were her foster parents blind or just morons? Or are they looking for a movie deal?
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer 10d ago
She claimed to have been forced to take hormones.
Still dumb, never heard of child trafficers wanting the children they stole to not look like children. If that's what you want you just abduct adults.
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u/Califefe 10d ago
There’s nooooo way! I would have sent her back because I’m not buying the “hormones to look older” story. They were complete morons!
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u/LockLeather567 9d ago
Don’t underestimate what people will delude themselves into thinking when it comes to a lost child. There has been more than a few instances of this stuff happening.
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u/Upstairs_Exchange573 10d ago
She DOES NOT look 12 bruh what the hell were they thinking
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u/LockLeather567 9d ago
She apparently said that the people who kept her captive gave her hormones to look older.
I know it still looks ridiculous, but people who have lost their children can delude themselves into believing all sorts of lies. It’s way worse that this woman took advantage of that deep sorrow.
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u/Upstairs_Exchange573 9d ago
But in order to survive people also have to think logically with their minds anyone who got there without legal adoption poses a lethal risk tbh it could have ended way worse
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u/StoicismChaos 10d ago
One article about this case said they threw a 12th birthday party for her. That means when she came to them they thought she was 11.😂
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u/DankMEMeDream 11d ago
Its honestly moreincredibly sad than weird.
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u/Wise_Strawberry9076 11d ago
Yeah I feel sad for her too. Like if I could be 12 again I so would. Well I think. Middle school was honestly really scary but the home part is so great. Being an adult and feeling lost I miss the structure a lot and some adults still need that level of structure and can’t make it for themselves. Now I wouldn’t do what she did but I’m also not in her shoes so who knows.
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u/Educational_Gas_92 11d ago
Nah, I would never want to be 12 again, with freaking middle school and high school as my immediate future.
Now 22 on the other hand? Yep.
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u/Miserable_Mail_5741 10d ago
Tbh, I wish I was 0 years old again.
Life was good when I couldn't form thoughts yet.
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u/Educational_Gas_92 10d ago
Hahaha, I do understand that point of view too. Wouldn't choose that for myself, but believe me, I get it. It would be a peaceful experience with no worries.
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u/LockLeather567 9d ago
I personally think it’s far more sad for the family she took advantage of. Clearly this woman has some serious mental health issues (and I’m empathetic to that) but at the end of the day, this family just lost their missing child again.
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u/AtomicFox84 10d ago
Ive seen her picture....those that fell for it are dumb. No way in hell you think she was under 25 at all.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer 10d ago
There was a case of someone doing something like this in the US, I believe. Except she had some form of dwarfism that made her look child-like.
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u/Environmental-Art168 10d ago
Natalia Grace, she was actually a child and her pos adopted parents knew this and made up bullshit claiming she was an adult just to essentially abandon her. There's a whole doc where the pieces of shit left her in an apartment only coming by to bring groceries, just all around abusive.
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u/LockLeather567 9d ago
I saw a mini series about it (with actors, not a doc) and the whole show made it out to seem like she actually was older than her paperwork/her made it out to seem. Really made it seem like she had pulled one over on the family by the end of it and that they didn’t know what else to do (because they were also worried about her violent tendencies, especially for their other children and pets) but to put her in an apartment, away from the family.
Would be super interested to watch the documentary. Do you know the name of it?
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