Three males in Los Angeles have been despatched to jail after trying an absurd insurance coverage scheme involving bear assaults on luxurious automobiles, RadarOnline.com can report.
The one downside was that the “bear” was only a man in a fancy dress, a ruse police shortly noticed by.
The boys have been arrested following a California Division of Insurance coverage investigation dubbed “Operation Bear Claw.” Officers mentioned the trio used an individual in a bear swimsuit to stage faux assaults on the high-end automobiles, then submitted fraudulent claims looking for payouts from insurance coverage corporations.
The division’s investigation started after the insurance coverage firm suspected fraud. The suspects claimed a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and brought about injury to the within.
They even offered video footage to their insurance coverage firm, which confirmed the alleged bear within the automobile.
Nevertheless it turned out the investigators have been smarter than the typical bear, and noticed proper by their plot and the phony video, shortly realizing the vicious animal was actually only a particular person in a fancy dress.
Investigators later uncovered two extra fraudulent claims submitted to separate insurance coverage corporations involving the identical date and site, this time tied to a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.
Simply to show their level, a biologist from the California Division of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the footage and in addition concluded the animal was clearly a human in a bear swimsuit.
“What could have regarded unbelievable turned out to be precisely that — and now these accountable are being held accountable,” mentioned Insurance coverage Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “My division’s investigators uncovered the info, uncovered this rip-off, and helped convey these defendants to justice.
“Insurance coverage fraud is a critical crime that drives up prices for shoppers, and no scheme is simply too outrageous for us to research.”
Detectives later executed a search warrant and recovered the costume from the suspects’ residence. Officers estimated the full loss to the insurance coverage corporations was $141,839.
The suspects, recognized as Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, all pleaded no contest to felony insurance coverage fraud.
Every was sentenced to 180 days in jail, to be served by a weekend jail program, and so they have been positioned on two years of supervised probation.
A fourth suspect, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, is scheduled to seem in courtroom in September 2026 for a preliminary listening to.
Investigators weren’t the one ones grinning and bearing it on the failed scheme. Reddit customers additionally shared their opinions.
“Absolutely there’s extra plausible methods to commit insurance coverage fraud, what a bunch of bozos,” one particular person scoffed, as one other snarked, “Nice. Now I would like to determine a brand new insurance coverage scheme for my 3 luxurious automobiles. That is why we will’t have good issues.”
A 3rd particular person contemplated, “Why even submit a video of the ‘bear’ within the automotive?? That’s so pointless.”
Whereas one particular person blasted: “Why even do that? Yer wrecking a RR Ghost’s inside? Then what? F–king fool. Good plan, Yogi.”