Authored by Dylan Morgan via The Epoch Times,
Three Los Angeles County residents were charged on April 16 with insurance fraud involving a bear suit and luxury vehicles.
The California Department of Insurance said the defendants used a person in a bear suit to stage fake attacks on their luxury vehicles, then submitted fraudulent claims for payouts to insurance companies that totaled around $142,000.
“What may have looked unbelievable turned out to be exactly that—and now those responsible are being held accountable,”Insurance Department Commissioner Ricardo Lara said.
“My Department’s investigators uncovered the facts, exposed this scam, and helped bring these defendants to justice. Insurance fraud is a serious crime that drives up costs for consumers, and no scheme is too outrageous for us to investigate.”
The department said the investigation began whenan insurance company flagged a suspicious claimwhere the defendants said a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Lake Arrowhead, California, on Jan. 28, 2024, and caused interior damage.
Alongside the claim,the defendants submitted security camera footage that showed a “bear” rummaging through the car’s interior and included photos of scratch marks on car doors and seats.
Department detectives determined the “bear” was a person wearing a bear costume.
Investigators later discovered two more fraudulent claims submitted to separate insurance companies with the same date and location, but tied to a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.
These claims also included similar “bear attack” videos from security cameras shot in the same driveway of a “bear” going through the two Mercedes vehicles, and were also accompanied by photos of interior scratches.
Source: ZeroHedge News
