Three people in California have been sentenced for insurance fraud in a bizarre scam that involved someone dressed in a bear costume damaging luxury cars.
The California insurance department said the three used a person in a bear suit to stage fake attacks inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes in 2024, then submitted fraudulent claims seeking nearly $142,000 (€120,000) in payouts from insurance companies.
The department dubbed it "Operation Bear Claw".
Two Los Angeles-area men and a woman pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud and were sentenced to a weekend jail programme, followed by probation, the department said in a news release on Thursday. Two of them were ordered to pay over $50,000 dollars (€42,500) in restitution.
A fourth person faces a court hearing in September.
The group is accused of providing several videos from the San Bernardino Mountains of a bear moving inside the vehicles to the insurance companies as part of their damage claims, the department said.
Photos provided by the insurance department show what appeared to be scratches on the seats and doors.
A California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist reviewed the footage and concluded it was "clearly a human in a bear suit", the insurance department said.
After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects' home, the department said.
Bears breaking into homes or trash cans in search of food have become a problem in California from Lake Tahoe in the Sierra down to the foothill suburbs of Los Angeles, where some have been known to raid refrigerators or take dips in backyard pools and hot tubs.
