In the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, a woman took a dead man in a wheelchair to the bank to get a loan. "She tried to fake his signature. He had already arrived at the bank dead," the news portal "G1" quoted police officer Fábio Luiz Souza as saying on Wednesday. The woman was arrested. In a video released on Tuesday, the woman can be seen talking to the man and trying to get him to sign a document. It is said to have involved a loan of 17,000 reais (around 3,000 euros).

"Uncle Paulo, do you hear me? You have to sign it," the woman said to the 68-year-old, according to the report. Another woman - presumably a bank employee - filmed the situation and said she didn't think the man was doing well. The bank employees then called the mobile emergency service, which confirmed the man's death.

Initial investigations would refute the woman's claim that the man only died in the bank branch, reported "G1", citing the police. Accordingly, the back of the man's head had death marks that would indicate that he died lying down. Death spots are conspicuous discolorations of the skin that appear in certain areas of the body after death and are caused by the blood sinking due to gravity. According to police, if he had died in the bank, he would have had them on his legs because he was in a wheelchair.

The woman, who claims to be the man's niece and carer, is now being investigated for attempted theft by fraud and corpse-pulling. "According to our research, she is actually related to him," "G1" quoted Souza as saying. "In my 22-year career, I have never experienced a story like this."