Four Californians this week have learned a critical lesson in the bear necessities of life and larceny. Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village are accused of a novel fraudulent scheme in which a compatriot donned a bear outfit and pretended to be a wild animal trashing their luxury cars, including a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.
The four men were charged with insurance fraud for staging fake bear attacks with the bear costume after a joint investigation by the California Department of Insurance and San Bernardino County authorities called “Operation Bear Claw.”
The men submitted grainy videos of a bear tearing through their cars. However, insurance investigators were a bit suspicious in watching the movements of the bear. They brought in a biologist who said that that was no bear but a man in a bear suit. The biologist noted that the claw marks actually did not fit the pattern of an actual bear claw.
When the detectives searched the homes, they found the bear outfit. The men had allegedly defrauded insurance companies of $141,839.