Bear costume used in elaborate car insurance fraud scheme

Four individuals were arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to defraud their insurance companies by claiming a bear had damaged their vehicles -- when in fact it was a person in a bear costume attacking the cars.

The suspects were all Los Angeles-area residents, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the California Department of Insurance.

The suspects varying in age, were Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale; Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale; Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village.

The statement said that all four were charged with conspiracy and insurance fraud.

Suspects claimed on Jan. 28, 2024, that a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and caused interior damage, according to the Department of Insurance. They provided video footage of the incident, stating that it had occurred during their visit to Lake Arrowhead.

Upon reviewing the footage, the Department of Insurance said that it suspected fraud. Officials said that they believed right away that the bear in question was actually a person in a bear costume.

Initiating an investigation -- named Operation Bear Claw -- the department learned that two other claims had been filed to different insurance companies with similar details: the same location and the same date.

Similar to the claim that originally drew the unit's attention, the two other reports stated that a bear had attacked their cars: a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, according to the statement.

Each of the two other claims had submitted video footage as part of their evidence. And in both of those videos, the department said it believed that they were looking at the same bear costume.

However, the department said that it sought an outside opinion on the case before making a final determination. Investigators reached out to a biologist from the California Department of Wildlife, who then independently reviewed the evidence for Operation Bear Claw.

The biologist stated that "it was clearly a human in a bear suit," according to the statement.

Authorities were able to execute a search warrant for the people involved in the alleged insurance fraud scheme.

Officials confirm that a bear costume was found in one of the suspects' homes.

At the time of the arrests, officials reported that the insurance companies had already paid out some of the claims, totaling $141,839.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case.