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Last year I lost my EU passport but later found it. So right now I have two passports in the same name from the same issuing country, just with different passport numbers. I was wondering if I could still use the old "deactivated" one to travel with to certain countries.

I just spent 4 months in Brazil and hence overstayed my visa-free travel by a month. I am not allowed to travel back to Brazil for a year. I was wondering if I could travel back into the country on my old passport without issues? I know that Brazil is one of the countries participating in the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS). If I give this old passport number to the airline before flying in, would this be caught by some system?

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    If it were that simple, everyone wanting to breach immigration rules would ‘lose’ their travel document. Passports become invalid for travel when they are reported lost or stolen. The issuing country may put restrictions on replacements if the individual has a record of losing 2 or more passports. I can’t immediately find a source specific to EU, however as examples see citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/travel_abroad/… and travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/after/…
    – Traveller
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 14:10
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    When you found your lost passport, you should have gone to police, to give it to them and notify it (in fact, you should do it now). In general, you should care much much more about rules.
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 14:39
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    It seems you clearly know that it would be illegal for you to enter Brazil in the next year, but you're asking if you could get away with it by using the other passport. Questions about how to get away with something illegal are generally not accepted on this site, see travel.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1405/….
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 19:22

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That seems to be a general misconception; you are not travelling 'on a passport', you are travelling as 'a person'. All historic events, overstays, visa, crimes, etc. are recorded for the person, not for the passport; the passport is just a tool to identify you as a person. In other words, you don't get to start over by getting a new passport.

As a consequence, travelling on an invalid passport is illegal, and might get you rejected/turned around, fined, or jailed, depending on the country and maybe the mood of the immigration personal. Most countries consider it a crime or misdemeanor to use invalid identification, and it will probably ban you from ever getting a visa to any country at all - nobody trusts someone that used a fake identity. You could even end up being jailed as using a stolen passport, and your embassy might be of little help, except transfer you to a jail at home.
Of course, you could be lucky and nothing happens, because they don't realize it. Probably not advisable to try.

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    Traveling on an expired passport is not the same as traveling on a fake ID! Your answer goes way overboard.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 15:16
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    Stolen but not stolen by OP. If OPs name is John Smith and he presents his own stolen passport it's a far lesser violation than traveling on a stolen passport belonging to Steve Jones.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 16:06
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    There’s been quite a few questions recently on the topic of possessing two passports, or a ‘clean’ replacement, or similar, usually involving the holder’s wish to be able to enter a country where the they have had an immigration problem. Do we have a canonical answer? I’ve searched but can’t spot one.
    – Traveller
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 16:13
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    @JonathanReez You're the one who is off base, not the answer. Knowingly traveling on a voided passport is criminal, at least in the countries I know.
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 16:38
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    There's an international database of passports reported lost/stolen. Not everyone enters reported passports into the database and not everyone checks it, though there are efforts to improve that. If you're caught, they're likely to think you're not really John Smith, and you're going to have a miserable time explaining otherwise. It's not that it's exactly the same as traveling on a fake ID, but that you'd have to convince them that you aren't actually traveling on a fake ID. Either way, it's not going to end well.
    – Zach Lipton
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 19:37

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