The bear was framed.
We’ve seen plenty of videos of bears getting into unlocked cars, coolers, trash, pretty much anywhere that they think they can find food. Especially in the Smoky Mountains, bears are often attracted by visitors who leave food out, like this video that went viral earlier this year of a bear charging a man who attempted to stop it from breaking into his car:
@lindseyooley33
So there may not have been anything too suspicious when three people filed insurance claims for damages to their car that they say was caused by a bear in the San Bernardino County, California mountain community of Lake Arrowhead.
The claims alleged that a bear had entered a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG, and a 2022 Mercedes E350, and even sent in video from a security camera and photos of the damage to the vehicles, which included scratches on the seats and door.
But once they started investigating, the insurance companies suspected that something wasn’t adding up with the claims, which resulted in insurance companies Bristol West, Progressive and State Farm paying out more than $300,000 in reimbursements.
After reviewing the video submitted by the customers, they brought in a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who determined that the “bear” was, in fact, “clearly a human in a bear suit.”
Ruben Tamrazian, Ararat Chirkinian, Vahe Muradkhanyan, and Alfiya Zuckerman were arrested for the scheme, which investigators dubbed “Operation Bear Claw.” And during their investigation, officials found a bear suit in the home of one of the defendant, as well as metal meat claws which they say were used to cause the damage to the vehicles.
The defendants are each facing three counts of insurance fraud and defrauding an insurer, and have since been released on bail.
And honestly, you almost have to give them credit for their creativity, until you watch the video and realize that the bear’s movements look nothing like an actual bear. I mean, the pawing, the way it climbs into the car…that’s clearly a dude (or woman) in a bear costume.
@cbschicago Four people are accused of committing insurance fraud using a bear costume. Authorities in California said the suspects claimed a bear damaged their vehicles, but really, it was a person in a bear costume.
And while the internet was willing to give them credit for trying, it doesn’t seem that the video was fooling anybody:
“I feel like these didn’t even try to catch the real essence of a bear in rhythm of movement”
They also clearly didn’t do enough research into just how much damage a bear will do when it gets into a car. I mean, look at the photos that they submitted:
And look at this video showing the damage from an actual bear getting into a car:
@gretchentherealtor Welcome to Gatlinburg!
Unless they just happened to get attacked by the most respectful bear in the mountains, I feel like their damages would have been quite a bit worse.
I mean, you’ve gotta respect the creativity, but the effort they put in was just begging for them to get caught.
