The fact that there are "local" prices and "gringo" prices in Brazil should be obvious to anyone who has done the least bit of travelling. Happens all over the world, some places more obviously and some less so.
Where I grew up there was a "residente" price and a "tourist" price for some goods and services. Both prices were openly published and on display. To be eligible to pay the discounted "residente" price you had to show ID proving you were a local.
Hardly scandalous - wouldn't call it so much of a wholesale conspiracy so much as "human nature". I can't think of a single country I've been to where that didn't happen to some extent except perhaps Switzerland and Germany.
And in Germany they did the same thing but with a twist. I ordered one beer and they gave me one metre of beer (10 beers), took my money and walked off, hoping that I can't speak German and won't come after them for the change
