A woman has been arrested after taking a dead man into a bank in a wheelchair and trying to get him to sign off a four-figure loan in her name.

Suspicious bank staff started filming the pair and ended up calling for an ambulance and police as she used her hand to keep the deceased pensioner’s head upright and told him: ‘Uncle, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t sign for you.’

Paramedics confirmed Paulo Roberto Braga, 68, had passed away a few hours earlier when they reached the bank branch in Bangu, a neighbourhood in the western area of Rio de Janeiro.

Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes told police after she was arrested at the scene she was his niece as well as his carer.

Officials have appeared to signal they are related and are said to be checking CCTV cameras inside and outside the bank to see if Mr Braga’s family member was on her own or with alleged accomplices amid suspicion they could be dealing with an organised fraud.

The results of a post-mortem to establish the cause of death have not yet been made public.

Footage published by Brazilian press showed the detainee telling her supposed uncle to grip hold of his pen hard as she placed it between his fingers and encouraged him to sign a piece of paper on a desk in front of him alongside his photo ID with his name on it.

The video showed the dead man’s head swaying back and forth before she grabbed hold of his neck with her left hand from behind.

She urged him: ‘Sign here and stop giving me a headache’ but was met by a logical silence from the man she was pretending to have a conversation with.

The bank worker witnessing the scene replied: ‘I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale’, prompting Erika to reply: ‘He’s like that’ before she told the dead OAP: ‘If you’re not well, I can take you to hospital. Do you want to go back to the hospital again?’