Three people sentenced to jail for bear-suit insurance scam in California

State investigated claims of bear attacks on cars, unconvincingly backed up by video of person in bear suit When it comes to the California department of insurance, don’t poke the bear. That is the lesson three individuals in Los Angeles learned recently when they were sentenced to jail time for an insurance fraud scheme in which they staged attacks on high-end vehicles by having a person dress up in a bear costume – then pretending that person was an actual bear. The plan unraveled after the four defendants in the case filed an insurance claim in 2024 claiming that the bear had damaged a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, going so far as to provide a video of the alleged attack inside the car parked at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains. It turned out that the ursine figure in the video was, in fact, a human. “What may have looked unbelievable turned out to be exactly that – and now those responsible are being held accountable,” the state’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, stated in a press release after the sentencing on Thursday. “My department’s investigators uncovered the facts, exposed this scam and helped bring these defendants to justice. “Insurance fraud is a serious