Four people were arrested Wednesday in connection with insurance fraud when they claimed a bear damaged their car, but it was actually a person in a bear costume, the California Department of Insurance said.

Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale; Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale; and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, were charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, the department said.

The suspects filed a claim with their insurance company, saying a bear got into their car, a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, on Jan. 28, 2024, near Lake Arrowhead and damaged the inside with scratches. The insurance department said the suspects provided a video to the company showing the “bear” in the car.

An investigation into the claim took a closer look at the video and determined the “bear” was actually a person in a bear costume, the insurance department said. Researchers then took the video to California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists to also look at the video. The biologists said, “It was clearly a human in a bear suit.”

The insurance department said investigators also found two other claims from two different insurance companies under the suspects’ names for the same date and location, involving two different cars: a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.

Those claims also included videos of a “bear” damaging the two cars. The insurance department said these videos also appeared to show a person in a bear costume scratching the inside of the cars.

The suspects defrauded insurance companies of $141,839, the insurance department said.