Four Los Angeles residents have been arrested after faking a bear attack for insurance payouts.
The group claimed a bear had damaged their vehicles, but an investigation by the California Department of Insurance found that “the bear” was actually a person in a bear costume.
CDI said this all began after an insurance company suspected fraud relating to a Jan. 28 claim.
The suspects that submitted the claim stated a bear damaged the interior of their 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, and submitted video evidence of the alleged bear in the vehicle.
An investigation into that claim found that the video instead depicted a person in a costume, rather than an actual bear.
Upon further digging, detectives discovered two additional insurance claims involving two different insurance companies for the suspects with the same date of loss, and at the same location, CDI said. Each of those claims involved two different vehicles — a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.
For those claims, the suspects again used what appeared to be a bear costume to stage that an animal damaged their vehicles. Video footage was also provided for these claims.
To ensure there was not actually a bear in the video, CDI said “the Department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three alleged bear videos and they also opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit.”
A search warrant also led to the discovery of the bear costume in the suspects’ home.
As a result, the insurance companies were defrauded a total of $141,839 by the suspects, CDI said.
The suspects include Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39. They have all been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
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