Human in bear suit was used to defraud insurance companies, officials say [Video]

A video that was submitted as part of an insurance claim in January appeared to capture a disturbing scene: a brown bear ransacking a Rolls-Royce that was parked in a Southern California driveway.

Similar videos involving other luxury cars were submitted to two additional insurers, and the three companies collectively paid out more than $US140,000 ($217,000).

But something about the footage seemed off, and one of the companies reported the video and images of claw marks on the upholstery to the California Department of Insurance. On Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), after concluding an investigation it called Operation Bear Claw, the department said it had …