The California Department of Insurance (CDI) reports in November 2024 that four Los Angeles area residents have been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy after claiming that over USD140 000 in damages to luxury vehicles was caused by a bear. Videos submitted to the insurers show a person in a bear costume damaging the vehicles. The police have revealed photographs of the bear costume used.

The suspects claimed that a bear broke into a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost and two Mercedes vehicles in January 2024. The suspects submitted odd videos of the supposed bear to their insurers. One of two insurers became suspicious because of unbearlike movements and scratch marks on the leather seats which looked remarkably even, as if manufactured. The “bear” did not use bear claws to cause the damage but used a scrapping instrument with even tongs.

The investigators enlisted the help of a biologist who reviewed the videos and expressed the opinion that it was clearly a human being in a bear suit. A search warrant was then executed and detectives found a bear costume in the suspects’ home complete with metal claws. The suspects have been arrested and charged. A spokesperson for the California Department of Insurance said “It is certainly an unusual case but we investigate all sorts of unusual cases. People will go to great lengths to earn an undeserved payout”.

The videos are posted on the CDI website, titled “Operation Bear Claw” here.