Four people were arrested on suspicion of insurance fraud after claiming their cars were damaged by a bear — which turned out to be someone dressed as an animal, authorities said.

Home surveillance footage submitted to an insurance company shows the so-called bear entering and damaging a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost while it was parked near Lake Arrowhead, northeast of Los Angeles, on January 28 , said the California Department of Insurance (CDI).

“Upon further review of the video, the investigation determined that the bear was actually a person dressed as a bear,” the CDI added.

Claims have also been filed for damage to two other cars – a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350 – with two different insurance companies.

Home surveillance footage also accompanied these claims, with CDI saying the suspects “again appeared to be using a bear costume to make it appear that a bear had also entered and damaged these vehicles.”

The three insurance claims gave the “same date of loss” and the same location, the CDI said.

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The alleged scam cost the insurance companies involved $141,839 (£111,788).

The department released an image of a brown fur suit that was found during a search of the suspects’ home. It came with metal hand tools that could be used to simulate claw marks.

Footage from all three claims suggests the incidents were filmed outside the same property, on the same night, but at different times.

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Images released by the CDI of the vehicles’ interiors appear to show minor scratches on the seats and doors that were believed to pass for claw marks.

The bears live in the Lake Arrowhead area, but when investigators showed the videos to a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, they “felt it was clearly a human in a bear costume.” “bear,” said the CDI.

Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, all from California, were arrested on charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy, the department added.

CDI detectives were assisted by the Glendale Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case.