Brazilian police have arrested a woman who tried to take out a bank loan for an elderly man she was pushing in a wheelchair -- who turned out to be dead.

Employees at the Rio de Janeiro bank called emergency services on Tuesday after becoming suspicious when the woman wheeled the man in and requested a loan in his name.

When emergency workers arrived, they determined the man was dead, police said in a statement.

Police for the precinct of Bangu, on Rio's west side, booked the woman for attempted theft by fraud and defiling a cadaver, they said.

Investigations are ongoing to determine how and when the man died.

Brazilian media reports said the woman claimed to be the 68-year-old man's niece and sought to take out a loan of 17,000 reais (about $3,250) in his name.

"She tried to make it look like he was signing the papers," local investigation chief Fabio Luiz told news site G1.

"But he was already dead when he entered the bank."

The woman's lawyer denied the accusations.