A scammer takes a dead man in a wheelchair to the bank to request a loan in Brazil

The workers and clients of a bank in Brazil, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, experienced on Tuesday a scene as surreal as it was macabre: a woman carried a corpse in a wheelchair to try to obtain, through a loan, 17,000 reais (about 3,200 dollars, 3,000 euros) in the name of the deceased. The employees, who were suspicious from the beginning, recorded the farce staged by the woman, who claimed to be the client's niece, and ended up calling the police. The suspect was arrested shortly after. She tried to pretend that he signed. He already entered the bank dead,” Commissioner Fábio Luz, who is investigating the case, explained to the local press.

The attitude of Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes immediately caught attention. She accompanied Paulo, a 68-year-old man, who appeared to be visibly weakened. When it is her turn at the window, she shows him the document that she has to sign, and she establishes an insane conversation with the man (a corpse for everyone to see): “Dude, can you hear me? You have to sign, if you don't sign, you can't. I can’t sign for you, I do what I can,” she says. “Sign so you don't give me any more headaches,” she continues. The corpse, obviously, doesn't even flinch. The woman holds her hand, but she doesn't react. Even the head of the deceased falls back at some point.

The officials become suspicious and record everything. “He is like that, he doesn't say anything…” the companion goes so far as to state without flinching. The video is already spreading like wildfire on the internet. At one point in the sordid conversation, the bank employees try to intervene and one of them comments on the man's paleness: “he is not well, his color is turning…”. “But he is like that,” the supposed niece quickly cuts in, who even asks the corpse if she is okay and if she wants to go to the clinic.

In the end, the bank called the ambulance and the police. The medical staff certified that Uncle Paulo had been dead for a few hours. The police took the woman to the police station to question her and shortly afterwards she was arrested, accused of theft by fraud and vilification of a corpse. The body was taken to the forensic institute to undergo an autopsy.

Police are investigating whether the woman, who claims to be his niece and caregiver, is actually related, and whether she had help from other people to commit the attempted fraud. The suspect's lawyer claims that the man began to feel bad in the bank office and died right there, shortly before it was his turn to be treated. One of the keys lies in the Uber driver who took the two to the bank. The police hope to reveal whether the man was alive or dead when they arrived at the bank.