A Brazilian woman is accused of wheeling her dead uncle into a bank, pretending he was alive and trying to persuade a clerk to let the corpse sign off on loaning her money.
"I don't think he's well," an employee remarked as Érika de Souza Vieira tried to cash in on her relative's death.
"He doesn't look well at all."
Vieira argued as she tried to hold a pen in her uncle's limp hand: "That's just what he's like."
The Guardian reports that Vieira was trying to get Paulo Roberto Braga, 68, to sign off on a loan of 17,000 reais (about NZ$5500).
Clerks were quickly suspicious.
Shortly after entering the lender in Rio de Janeiro, Vieira was arrested and charged with violating a corpse and attempted theft through fraud, local media reports.
"She knew he was dead," said investigating officer Fábio Luiz Souza. "He had been dead for at least two hours."
"I have never come across a story like this in 22 years [as a police officer]."
Footage from the incident has taken social media by storm — and far more questions remain.
A lawyer for Vieira has continued to insist Braga was alive when the pair entered the bank.
But Souza isn't even sure if Vieira was really Braga's niece, he said.
"Anyone who sees that [footage] can see the person was dead."
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