Person dressed in bear costume to fake attacks on cars for insurance payout, California officials say

Four people in Southern California were arrested and charged with insurance fraud after they claimed their cars had been vandalized by a bear — which was actually a person in a bear costume, officials said Wednesday.

The so-called bear allegedly 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 claiming to show the animal entering the car.

“Upon further examination of the video, the investigation determined that the bear was in fact a person in a bear costume,” the insurance department says. said in a statement.

The group also filed claims for damage to two other cars, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, again with video and again with a person 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, was arrested on charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy, the department said.

A spokesman for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said charges have been filed against the four people arrested and that the cases are under review for a decision on charges.

It was not clear if any of the four had attorneys available to speak on their behalf Wednesday night. Phone numbers for them could not be found.

The scam cost insurers $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 at the suspects’ home, officials said.

Video of the alleged damage showed what appeared to be minor gouge marks on seats and the interior that were intended to pass for claw marks.

Investigators also showed the videos to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, who “believed 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 are a wooded area about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles, but they don’t wear costumes.

The only wild bears in the San Bernardino Mountains or elsewhere in the state are black bears, according to fish and wildlife Department. Contrary to the name, these bears can sometimes be brown.

The state once had grizzlies, but they had been hunted to extinction in the 1920s.