Los Angeles, USA:
Four people were arrested in California on Wednesday on suspicion of dressing up as bears and damaging their own luxury cars in order to defraud insurance companies.
Suspicion arose when a claim was made for torn seats and damaged doors on a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a luxury car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The plaintiffs alleged that a bear broke into their car, which was parked in Lake Arrowhead, a mountainous suburb of Los Angeles, and caused major damage to the car.
To support their claims, they provided photos of the damage and security camera footage that allegedly showed the animal inside the vehicle.
But the company smelled a rat and contacted insurance fraud detectives.
“Further review of the video revealed that the bear was actually a person wearing a bear costume,” the California Department of Insurance said in a release.
Four people have been arrested after filming a fake video of a bear attacking a bear for insurance money.
Operation Bear Claw revealed that the suspect was wearing a bear costume to commit insurance fraud. pic.twitter.com/9mzfvaq2B3
— California Department of Insurance (@CDInews) November 13, 2024
Investigators later reviewed records and found two other claims against different insurance companies alleging damage to other vehicles at the same location: a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350. I discovered it.
Both claims were accompanied by video footage of the same “bear” rampaging around the vehicle.
“To further ensure that what is seen in the videos is not actually a bear, the department had biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review three bear videos, and they clearly identified bear costumes. “We also opined that it was a person wearing a suit,” Wednesday’s statement said. Said.
“After executing the search warrant, detectives discovered a bear costume at the suspect’s home.”
Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, are all charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance claims. He has been charged with a crime valued at more than $140,000.
Native to California, black bears can sometimes sneak into cars in search of food and can cause significant damage.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
