Three Los Angeles-area residents have been sentenced to jail time after pleading no contest to felony insurance fraud in a bizarre scheme that involved dressing in a bear costume to stage fake attacks on luxury vehicles and then filing fraudulent insurance claims.
According to the California Department of Insurance, the defendants, Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, used the costume to damage a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and two Mercedes vehicles before submitting video “evidence” to multiple insurance companies claiming a real bear was responsible.
The scam, dubbed “Operation Bear Claw” by state investigators, began with a suspicious claim filed in January 2024 in Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains.
The group told insurers a bear had entered the parked Rolls-Royce and caused interior damage. They provided security camera footage showing the “bear” rummaging through the vehicle.
Further investigation revealed two additional claims filed on the same date and at the same location involving the Mercedes vehicles, each accompanied by similar video footage.
A biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the videos and confirmed the animal was “clearly a human in a bear suit.”
WATCH:
“Clearly a human in a bear suit.” Officials say four California insurance scammers have been arrested after dressing in bear costumes to vandalize luxury cars.pic.twitter.com/lv4LDHmXY0
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 14, 2024
4 people collected $141,839 from insurance companies by dressing up as a bear
This might be the craziest fraud case of the year
One of them put on a bear costume and climbed inside a Rolls Royce Ghost
Filmed it and sent the video to their insurance company claiming a real bear… pic.twitter.com/gBF39nU73S
— Sweep (@0xSweep) March 29, 2026
Detectives later executed a search warrant at one of the suspects’ homes and recovered the exact bear costume used in the videos, along with meat-claw shredders.
The fraud resulted in insurance companies losing $141,839.
On Thursday, the three defendants were sentenced in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
Each received a sentence of 180 days, to be served via a weekend jail program, two years of supervised probation, and orders to pay restitution.
Zuckerman was ordered to pay $55,360; Tamrazian, $52,268; and Muradkhanyan’s restitution amount is still to be determined.
A fourth suspect, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in September.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a press release:
“What may have looked unbelievable turned out to be exactly that — and now those responsible are being held accountable. My Department’s investigators uncovered the facts, exposed this scam, and helped bring these defendants to justice. Insurance fraud is a serious crime that drives up costs for consumers, and no scheme is too outrageous for us to investigate.”
The post ‘Clearly a Human in a Bear Suit’: California Trio Jailed for Staging Fake Bear Attacks on Rolls-Royce and Mercedes in $142K Insurance Scam (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.