4 People Accused of Using Bear Costume to Damage Cars in Elaborate Insurance Fraud

Four Los Angeles residents are accused of using a bear costume to defraud car insurance companies.

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, the California Department of Insurance said in a release that Glendale residents Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, plus Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, had been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy. 

It came after the “suspects claimed on January 28, 2024, in Lake Arrowhead a bear entered their 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost and caused interior damage to the vehicle,” the release read.

Officials added that the suspects also provided their insurance company with video footage of the alleged bear attack.

In the video, the “bear” could be seen inside the vehicle, moving between the front and rear seats of the luxury vehicle.

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Images of scratches on the doors and seats of the car were then revealed.

“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” officials stated in the release.

“Detectives found two additional insurance claims with two different insurance companies, for the suspects with the same date of loss and at the same location,” the release added.

“Each of those claims involved two different vehicles, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, and the suspects again appeared to use a bear costume to make it appear that a bear also entered and damaged those vehicles,” the statement continued.

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Video footage was also provided to the other insurance companies. However, after a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the images, they concluded that it was a human dressed up as a bear.

The bear costume was later found in a suspect’s home after a search warrant was issued.

“The insurance companies were defrauded of $141,839, because of the alleged fraud committed by the suspects,” the release read. “Department detectives were assisted by the Glendale Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case.”