Bear Suit Scam Trio Jailed for Fraud

Three Southern California residents were sentenced after prosecutors said they used a bear costume to fake damage inside luxury cars for insurance money. (abcnews.com) Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud and were each sentenced on April 17 to 180 days in jail through a weekend program, plus two years of supervised probation. (abc7.com) California investigators said the group submitted claims tied to a Jan. 28, 2024 incident at Lake Arrowhead, saying a bear had entered a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and damaged the interior. Investigators later linked the same scheme to a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350. (ktla.com) The California Department of Insurance said the false claims cost insurers $141,839. The agency said the three staged the attacks inside the vehicles and backed the claims with video. (abc7.com) The case turned when a California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist reviewed the footage and concluded the animal was “clearly a human in a bear suit,” according to investigators. Detectives later served a search warrant and found the costume at the suspects’ home. (abcnews.com) The state insurance department called the investigation Operation Bear Claw. California law requires insurers to report suspected fraud to the Department of Insurance and the local district attorney, and the department runs a public fraud-reporting system for auto cases. (insurance.ca.gov) Two of the defendants were also ordered to repay insurers. Zuckerman was ordered to pay $55,360 and Tamrazian $52,268, while Muradkhanyan’s restitution amount had not been set in the reports published after sentencing. (desertsun.com) A fourth defendant, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, still faces a preliminary hearing in September. The fake bear videos that were meant to support the claims ended up as evidence for the prosecution instead. (foxbusiness.com)