diff --git a/app/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_identifier_helper.rb b/app/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_identifier_helper.rb
index 449b894d7..07dc70983 100644
--- a/app/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_identifier_helper.rb
+++ b/app/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_identifier_helper.rb
@@ -76,11 +76,17 @@ module Whatsapp::IncomingMessageIdentifierHelper
     phone_number = whatsapp_phone_number(phone_identifier)
     return { name: name } if phone_number.blank?
 
-    formatted_phone_number = "+#{phone_number}"
+    # Normalize before storing/matching so country-specific format variations (e.g. Brazil's
+    # missing 9th digit) resolve to the same contact instead of creating duplicates.
+    formatted_phone_number = "+#{normalized_phone_number(phone_number)}"
     display_name = name == phone_identifier ? formatted_phone_number : name
     { name: display_name, phone_number: formatted_phone_number }
   end
 
+  def normalized_phone_number(phone_number)
+    Whatsapp::PhoneNumberNormalizationService.new(inbox).normalize_number(phone_number)
+  end
+
   def update_whatsapp_identifiers(source_ids: [], username: nil, phone_number: nil)
     Whatsapp::IdentifierSyncService.new(contact_inbox: @contact_inbox, contact: @contact).perform(source_ids: source_ids, username: username,
                                                                                                   phone_number: phone_number)
diff --git a/app/services/whatsapp/phone_number_normalization_service.rb b/app/services/whatsapp/phone_number_normalization_service.rb
index 1e52d9b02..a1345ea67 100644
--- a/app/services/whatsapp/phone_number_normalization_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/whatsapp/phone_number_normalization_service.rb
@@ -29,6 +29,15 @@ class Whatsapp::PhoneNumberNormalizationService
     existing_contact_inbox&.source_id || raw_number
   end
 
+  # @param clean_number [String] Phone number in clean cloud format, e.g. "5541988887777"
+  # @return [String] Country-normalized number, or the original when no normalizer applies
+  def normalize_number(clean_number)
+    normalizer = find_normalizer_for_country(clean_number)
+    return clean_number unless normalizer
+
+    normalizer.normalize(clean_number)
+  end
+
   private
 
   attr_reader :inbox
diff --git a/spec/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_whatsapp_cloud_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_whatsapp_cloud_service_spec.rb
index 70c29c092..f380af423 100644
--- a/spec/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_whatsapp_cloud_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/whatsapp/incoming_message_whatsapp_cloud_service_spec.rb
@@ -257,6 +257,41 @@ describe Whatsapp::IncomingMessageWhatsappCloudService do
         end
       end
     end
+
+    context 'when an echo (coexistence) message arrives for a Brazil number missing the 9th digit' do
+      let(:echo_params) do
+        {
+          object: 'whatsapp_business_account',
+          entry: [{
+            changes: [{
+              field: 'smb_message_echoes',
+              value: {
+                message_echoes: [{
+                  from: whatsapp_channel.phone_number.delete('+'),
+                  to: '551112345678',
+                  id: 'wamid.ECHO_MESSAGE_ID',
+                  timestamp: '1664799904',
+                  text: { body: 'Reply from the WhatsApp app' },
+                  type: 'text'
+                }]
+              }
+            }]
+          }]
+        }.with_indifferent_access
+      end
+
+      it 'reuses the existing contact stored with the normalized phone number instead of duplicating it' do
+        existing_contact = create(:contact, phone_number: '+5511912345678', account: whatsapp_channel.account)
+
+        expect do
+          described_class.new(inbox: whatsapp_channel.inbox, params: echo_params, outgoing_echo: true).perform
+        end.not_to change(Contact, :count)
+
+        conversation = whatsapp_channel.inbox.conversations.last
+        expect(conversation.contact).to eq(existing_contact)
+        expect(conversation.messages.last.content).to eq('Reply from the WhatsApp app')
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   # Métodos auxiliares para reduzir o tamanho do exemplo