Fraudster dresses as bear to scratch luxury cars in insurance scam

Insurance fraudsters used a person in a bear suit to stage fake attacks on high-end vehicles, then submitted fraudulent claims seeking payouts from insurance companies, a California Department of Insurance investigation dubbed “Operation Bear Claw" has revealed. An investigation began after an insurance company reported a suspicious claim tied to a January 2024 incident in Lake Arrowhead. Suspects claimed a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and caused interior damage, submitting footage to support the claim. However, detectives concluded the "bear" in the video was a person in costume, and uncovered two more fraudulent claims involving the same date and location. The total loss to insurance companies was $141,839. Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32. They were each sentenced to 180 days in jail to be served through a weekend jail program, and Zuckerman and Tamazarian must pay almost $108,000 in restitution.

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