Four people from Los Angeles County are facing insurance fraud and conspiracy charges after staging fake bear attacks with a bear costume, the Department of Insurance announced Wednesday.
Initially the suspects -- Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village -- had requested insurance payout for their car, 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, after claiming a bear had entered the car and caused interior damage to the vehicle in Lake Arrowhead on Jan. 28.
But the insurance company suspected fraud after reviewing security camera footage.
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” the Department of Insurance said in a statement.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
As authorities joined the investigation, they learned there were two other similar claims filed with two different insurance companies on the same date and the same location.
In the other claims involving a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, the fake bear also entered the cars to leave behind damage.
The same video footage was also submitted as evidence in the other claims.
To prove that it was actually not a bear damaging the three cars in the video, a biologist from the Department of Fish and Wildlife was brought in to review the footage.
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
“They also opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” the insurance agency said.
When detectives searched the suspects’ homes, they found a bear costume
The suspects allegedly defrauded $141,839 from the insurance companies.
