Bogus bear insurance scam
A spate of reported bear attacks on luxury cars in the United States has led to the arrest of four people who have been accused of insurance fraud by claiming the creature damaged their vehicles.
The case has taken a comical twist because the California Department of Insurance alleges that rather than a wild beast wrecking the cars it was actually a “human in a bear suit”.
Four Los Angeles residents face charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy after three insurance companies were allegedly defrauded out of nearly US$142,000 (about NZ$241,000).
After executing a search warrant, detectives found a bear costume in the home of one of the suspects, the department says.
An investigation, dubbed “Operation Bear Claw”, began after an insurance company raised concerns about a claim from the suspects in January this year.
The quartet claimed a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Lake Arrowhead and caused interior damage to the vehicle. They provided video footage that showed the alleged mammal in the car.
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” the department explains.
“Detectives found two additional insurance claims with two different insurance companies for the suspects with the same date of loss and at the same location.”
Those claims involved a 2015 Mercedes-AMG G 63 and a 2022 Mercedes-Benz E 350, and the suspects are alleged to have again used a bear costume to make it appear that a creature entered and damaged those vehicles.
The group provided video footage of all three incidents as part of their damage claims, the department adds, while photos showed what appeared to be scratches on the seats and doors.
To further ensure it was not a bear in the videos, the department called in a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to review the footage and they concluded it was “clearly a human in a bear suit”.
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