Four insurance fraudsters arrested in US who dressed up as bears to destroy their expensive cars

The applicants claimed the animal entered a parked car at Lake Arrowhead, a stopover in a mountainous area outside Los Angeles, and wreaked havoc.

He also presented photographs of the damage to support his claim. Images from a security camera Which, according to them, shows the animal inside the vehicle. However, the company became suspicious and contacted detectives specializing in investigating insurance fraud.

“After further analysis of the video, the investigation revealed that the bear was in fact a person in costume,” a statement from the California Department of Insurance said. And the detectives in charge of the case reviewed the documents and found Two further applications against other insurers

Arguing that a bear had damaged other vehicles at the same location: a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.

Both demands also came together Other videos purportedly showing the same bear Inside cars. “To make sure it was not a real bear, the department called in Fish and Wildlife biologists to review three videos and found that it was clearly a human,” the press office reported this Wednesday. “After executing a search warrant, detectives found bear costumes at the suspects’ home.”

Ruben Tamarzian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanian, 32, and Alfia Zuckerman, 39, were charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy to file claims that totaled more than $140,000.

Black bears, native to California, sometimes enter vehicles in search of food.