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Four people were arrested on charges of insurance fraud after allegedly filing false claims that a bear destroyed their car. The California Department of Insurance said that Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, were charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy.
Officials said that the group filed an insurance claim for damage to their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost. They said that it was parked outside a home in Lake Arrowhead, California, on January 28, 2024, when a bear broke into their vehicle and caused extensive damage. The group even provided a video of the incident.
However, when the insurance company looked at the video, they realized the bear was actually a person wearing a bear suit. The insurance company then showed the footage to biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who confirmed their suspicions that it was indeed a person in a bear suit.
As investigators dug deeper, they found two other claims filed by the group with two different insurance companies involving a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350. The claims were filed on the same date and location as the first claim.
The four are accused of defrauding the insurance companies out of $141,839.