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Three Southern California residents just got sentenced to six months in jail for a grizzly crime. They put someone in a bear costume, had them climb into their luxury cars and scratch up the interiors with barbecue meat claws, then filed insurance claims for bear damage. The scam netted over $141,000 from three different insurance companies before a wildlife biologist exposed the fraud, reports the New York Times.
Ruben Tamrazian, Vahe Muradkhanyan and Alfiya Zuckerman targeted a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and two Mercedes-Benzes, claiming a bear rifled through all three vehicles on the same date in Lake Arrowhead, California. They submitted video footage showing what appeared to be a bear crawling around the back seats and swatting at the dashboards. The insurance companies paid out.
But one insurer got suspicious and flagged the claim. Investigators called in a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to review the footage. His conclusion? The animal was clearly a human in a bear suit. Detectives later found the elaborate brown costume and meat-shredding handles during a search warrant.