Fraudsters Sentenced in Bizarre Insurance Scheme, Accomplice Portrayed Bear Damaging Luxury Cars

Three fraudsters have been sentenced in a scheme to scam $142,000 out of insurance companies by claiming a bear — actually an accomplice in an animal outfit — went bear-serk and damaged several luxury cars.

The bizarre scheme was discovered after the culprits filed an insurance claim in 2024 claiming a rampaging ursine had badly damaged a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and even showed a video of the furry critter going ape inside the high-priced ride parked at Lake Arrowhead in California’s San Bernardino Mountains, The Guardian reported.

But investigators with the case dubbed “Operation Bear Claw” by the state’s Insurance Department showed the film to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, who determined the furry felon was “clearly a human in a bear suit,” the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The investigators said the scammers had also tried the same rip-off with two luxury Mercedes vehicles.

Now Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, have been sentenced to 180 days in a California slammer after pleading no contest to felony insurance fraud, per The Guardian.

Zuckerman and Tamrazian must also pay more than $52,000 restitution. A fourth suspect, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, has a preliminary hearing in September.