Investigators accused four suspects of staging bear attacks using a costume to damage vehicles in a San Bernardino County mountain community in order to receive payouts totaling more than $140,000.

Four people have been charged with insurance fraud for claiming that their cars were trashed by a bear — which was actually someone in a bear costume, officials said Wednesday.

Four Los Angeles residents were arrested for an insurance fraud scheme after they claimed a bear damaged their vehicles—but video showed it was a person in a bear costume. The California Department of Insurance said the four men claimed on Jan.