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The California Department of Insurance uncovered an insurance scam that's been dubbed, "Operation Bear Claw," because the suspects allegedly wore a bear costume to commit insurance fraud.
Four suspects were arrested Thursday, per a press release, after claiming a bear had caused damage to their vehicles, "but it was actually a person in a bear costume."
California Department of Insurance
According to the report, the suspects claimed a bear broke into their 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost in Lake Arrowhead in late January and caused interior damage. The group provided a video to their insurance company as proof.
However, investigators noticed something fishy when they found two additional insurance claims "with two different insurance companies, for the suspects with the same date of loss and at the same location."
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Those cars, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, had also allegedly been ransacked by a bear. There was similar video footage provided as proof.
After analyzing the video closer, the investigators determined there was no bear in any of the cases—and it was a person in a bear costume, instead. Still, they wanted more proof and brought in a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to review the three "bear" videos. The biologist noted that "it was clearly a human in a bear suit."
Four California residents were arrested for an insurance fraud scheme after they claimed a bear damaged their vehicles—but video showed it was a person in a bear costume, according to the California Department of Insurance.
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Finally, the department noted that after executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects' home.
Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, have all been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy.
According to the report, the insurance companies were scammed out of $141,839.
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