Three individuals in California have been sentenced for insurance fraud after authorities determined they enlisted a person in a bear costume to claw up luxury vehicles as part of a staged claims operation dubbed "Operation Bear Claw."

The California Department of Insurance said the defendants orchestrated fake animal attacks inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes vehicles in 2024, ultimately seeking $141,839 from insurers.

Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, along with Ruben Tamrazian, 26, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, both of Glendale, entered no-contest pleas to felony insurance fraud. Each received 180 days in a weekend jail program followed by two years of supervised probation.

Zuckerman was ordered to pay $55,360 in restitution and Tamrazian $52,268. A fourth defendant, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in September.

Investigators said the group submitted videos to insurers purportedly showing a bear thrashing inside the vehicles in the San Bernardino Mountains, with images depicting scratch marks on seats and doors.

A biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the footage and concluded it was "clearly a human in a bear suit."

A subsequent search warrant at the suspects' residence turned up the bear costume alongside meat-claw shredders believed to have been used to mimic claw damage.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara remarked that no scheme is too outrageous to investigate, noting that fraud ultimately drives up costs for consumers.

The wider fraud picture

Research from the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud pegs the annual cost of insurance fraud in the United States at $308.6 billion, equating to roughly $932 per American. Verisk has estimated auto premium leakage alone at $35.1 billion per year.

Operation Bear Claw fits a broader enforcement pattern in Southern California. Earlier in 2025, an Inland Empire task force charged 16 individuals in vehicle-hostage and staged-collision schemes totaling nearly $217,000 in losses, the state said.

The case lands against a backdrop of genuine wildlife encounters straining comprehensive auto coverage. In November 2025, a black bear became trapped inside a resident's Subaru in Lake Tahoe, shredding the upholstery, smashing a window and tearing down the rearview mirror before escaping.

Bears have also been reported raiding refrigerators and backyard pools in foothill communities such as Claremont and Fillmore outside Los Angeles, lending surface plausibility to the fraudulent footage.

Bizarre fraud is not new territory for the industry. In a widely reported 2011 case, Michael LeDuc was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison after filing a dismemberment claim for an arm he still had.

Years earlier, Briton John Darwin faked his death in a 2002 canoeing accident so his wife could collect £680,000, only to be undone by a social media post from Panama.