Person dressed in bear costume to fake attacks on cars for insurance payout, California officials say
Four people in Southern California were arrested and accused of insurance fraud after they claimed their cars were trashed by a bear — which was actually someone in a bear costume, officials said Wednesday.
The so-called bear was claimed to have entered and damaged a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost on Jan. 8 while it was parked at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, the California Department of Insurance said.
Video was submitted to the insurance company that alleged to show the animal entering the car.
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” the Insurance Department said in a statement.The group also submitted claims for damage to two other cars, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, again with video and again with someone in a bear suit, it said.
Ruben Tamrazian, 26; Ararat Chirkinian, 39; and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, all of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, were arrested on charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy, the department said.
A spokesperson for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said that charges have been submitted against the four people arrested and that the cases are under review for a decision on charges.
It was not clear whether any of the four had attorneys who could speak on their behalf Wednesday night. Phone numbers for them could not be found.
The scam cost insurance companies $141,839, the department said.
The bear costume, with brown fur, a head shaped like a bear’s, paws and metal hand tools to simulate claw marks, was found in the suspects’ home, officials said.
Video of the alleged damage showed what appeared to be minor groove marks on seats and the interior that were intended to pass for claw marks.
Investigators also showed the videos to a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who "opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit," the Insurance Department said.
There are bears at Lake Arrowhead and in the San Bernardino Mountains, which is a forested range about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles, but they don’t wear costumes.
The only wild bears in the San Bernardino Mountains or anywhere else in the state are black bears, according to the Fish and Wildlife Department. Contrary to the name, those bears can sometimes be brown.
The state once had grizzlies, but they had been hunted to extinction by the 1920s.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com