POLICE are desperately searching for an influencer who allegedly posed as a teenage girl with cancer in a £30,000 romance scam.

Cops are hunting Brazilian man Luís Felipe de Oliveira, 23, after he was charged with online fraud for an alleged catfishing scam.

Luís Felipe de Oliveira, 23, allegedly posed as a teenage girl with cancerCredit: Jam Press
 

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Felipe allegedly scammed a man almost £30,000Credit: Jam Press
 

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He allegedly asked the victim to pay for medical appointments, takeaway food and rentCredit: Jam Press
Known as Felipe Heystee on social media, he allegedly pretended to be a teen girl and began a romantic relationship with an older man.

Felipe, who has 2.3 million TikTok followers is accused of posing on a dating app as a female student, 19, who was battling cancer.

He then allegedly spent more than two years in an online relationship as “Luana”, scamming his victim out of £29,642 between May 2022 and August 2024.

The victim, a 46-year-old geographer who enjoys restoring antique furniture, believed he was in a relationship with a blue-eyed, long-haired student named Luana, who supposedly shared his passion for antiques.

He thought the money he sent was helping Luana pay for medical tests and treatment.

He also covered her overdue rent and paid for takeaways to be delivered to her.

In one conversation, Luana wrote that she needed £105 for “an ultrasound and a pap smear to check for cancer” and added: “I just remembered I didn’t pay my health insurance this month.”

Although they called each other “love” or “sweetie”, they never met in person or even had a video call.

“The person I was messaging said she was very shy,” the geographer recalled.

They spoke on the phone only once, and he said the female voice he heard during the call made him suspicious.

He also thought it was “strange” that most of his transfers went to accounts in Felipe’s name.

The scam began to unravel when the man did a reverse-image search of a photo Luana had sent with her mother.

“The photo belonged to another girl, standing next to a woman. She was a 16-year-old with a different name, and she’s also an influencer,” he said.

He contacted the girl’s parents on social media.

“They said their daughter didn’t know Felipe and suggested he’d taken the girl’s photo without permission to trick me,” he explained.

Felipe reportedly has a history of virtual scams affecting multiple victims and has been cited in prior incidents of online fraud.

He was expelled in 2024 from Rancho do Maia, by Carlinhos Maia, following his controversial online activities.

A civil court in Cotia, Brazil, has already ordered Felipe to pay his victim £1,432 in damages.

The civil court’s compensation order has not yet been paid, and the criminal case has yet to be tried.

The court ordered his pre-trial detention on March 4.

More than £28,640 has been frozen in Felipe’s accounts by court order, potentially to reimburse his victim.

Prosecutors believe Felipe may have had other victims.

After the ordeal, the geographer says he no longer intends to pursue new relationships.

“It was my last try,” he said. “I don’t want to get involved with anyone else. I’ll just stay an uncle for life.”

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More than £28,640 has been frozen in Felipe’s accounts by court orderCredit: Jam Press
 

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The court ordered his pre-trial detention on March 4Credit: Jam Press