Suspicions were aroused when a claim was made for ripped seats and damaged doors on a luxury Rolls-Royce Ghost, an exclusive vehicle worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Claimants said a bear had got into the car when it was parked in Lake Arrowhead, a mountain spot outside Los Angeles, wreaking havoc on its interior.

To back up their claim, they provided photos of the damage as well as footage from a security camera, which they said showed the animal inside the vehicle.

But the company smelled a rat and contacted insurance fraud detectives.

"Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume," said a release from the California Department of Insurance.

Investigators then combed through records and found two other claims against different insurance companies alleging bear damage to different vehicles -- a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350 -- at the same spot.

Both claims had also been accompanied by video footage of the same "bear" rampaging around the vehicles.

"To further ensure it was not actually a bear in the video, the Department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three alleged bear videos and they also opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit," Wednesday's statement said.

"After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects' home."

Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, have all been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy over the claims, which were worth over $140,000.

Black bears, which are native to California, occasionally do get inside vehicles in the hunt for food, and can cause tremendous damage.

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© Agence France-Presse