Updated: 18 minutes ago Published: 19 minutes ago

The footage is shocking. A brown bear — and it hasn’t been one in Southern California for more than a century — breaks into a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, apparently using the door handle. Then it spins hard inside the car, raking the leather seats with its powerful claws.

Except it wasn’t a terrifying beast — it was a person dressed in a bear suit, using a kitchen tool designed to shred meat, authorities said.

And the video wasn’t a lucky catch, but a staged performance put on as part of a four-person insurance fraud scheme, according to the California Department of Insurance.

On Wednesday, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, were arrested and charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, according to California. Insurance Department.

The suspects are also accused of staging fake bear videos of two Mercedes-Benz vehicles — a 2015 G63 AMG and a 2022 E350 — and submitting those videos as part of fraudulent insurance claims, the department says.

A bear suit with meat claws was discovered in the suspects’ home on Wednesday, according to the insurance department.

The Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division began its investigation – dubbed Operation Bear Claw – after an insurance company reviewed the recording of the January 28 Rolls Royce incident and became suspicious that something fishy was going on.

On closer inspection, the ferocious animal appeared to be a person in a costume, detectives said.

Detectives then discovered the two additional insurance claims filed for the two Mercedes vehicles. All three insurance claims were filed with different companies and had the same date of loss and the same location, detectives said.

They decided to call in an expert – just to be sure, mind you.

Detectives enlisted the help of a California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist to review the three videos who agreed it was clearly a man in a bear suit.

The suspects are accused of defrauding insurance companies of nearly $142,000.

On Wednesday, detectives executed a search and arrest warrant and discovered the suit and claws. The Glendale Police Department and the California Highway Patrol assisted in the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office.