A 28-year-old influencer has been arrested over the attempted robbery and shooting of a 61-year-old man who thought he was meeting her for a date.
At around 9pm on 12 May, the French businessman sent 500 BRL (£74) to Thays Abreu de Freitas, apparently to pay a babysitter to look after her three-year-old son while she went to meet him.
The man then drove to pick her up in Fortaleza, Brazil, for what he believed was a romantic rendezvous.
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But while he waited inside his pick-up truck at around 10pm, he was approached by a group of suspects. He resisted the attack and was shot twice in the back.
The gang fled in his vehicle, taking his belongings with them.
He was rushed to hospital in critical condition and, as of yesterday (20 May), remains in intensive care.
Around an hour after the shooting, De Freitas messaged one of the victim’s employees, informing him of the attack and asking for the passcode to unlock the man’s phone, supposedly to help track the stolen device.
When asked what had happened, she claimed they were heading out for dinner when she heard gunshots as she got out of the vehicle, before seeing the businessman injured.
The employee found the request suspicious and refused to hand over the passcode, as reported by Need To Know.
De Freitas is said to have met the Frenchman through a dating app in late 2025.
On 13 May, police arrested her, along with her boyfriend Mikael Ricson Lima Monteiro, 23, Erick Sousa Paula, also 23, and two other men whose identities have not been released.
A teenager was also detained, while a seventh suspect remains on the run.
Detective Luiz Arthur told local media: “The evidence gathered indicates that she planned the entire crime together with six other individuals.
“The suspect arranged a meeting with the victim and, at the same time, coordinated with her accomplices to carry out the vehicle robbery followed by extortion attempts.”
The suspects have been charged with attempted robbery with attempted murder, attempted extortion, and membership of a criminal gang, and have been remanded in custody.
During the investigation, officers found the Frenchman’s phone, watch and glasses at De Freitas’s home.
She initially told police she would receive 1,500 BRL (£223) from a third party in exchange for the victim’s pick-up truck.
However, in her formal statement she denied involvement and repeated her claim that she had simply arranged to meet the Frenchman for dinner.
Her boyfriend, however, told police she had been involved in planning the crime for weeks and had helped coordinate the ambush, with the group allegedly set to receive 15,000 BRL (£2,231) for the stolen vehicle.
The truck was later found abandoned with signs it had been partially dismantled.
Paula told officers that Monteiro had offered him 400 BRL (£59) to dismantle the vehicle, and said De Freitas and Monteiro were the main organisers of the plot.
He also claimed the group initially intended to kidnap the victim and extort him through torture, but the plan fell apart after he fought back.
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