LOS ANGELES – California has seen its share of bears breaking into cars. But bears caught on camera breaking into luxury cars have warned insurers that something is wrong.

Four Los Angeles residents were arrested Wednesday in what was dubbed “Operation Bear Claw,” accused of defrauding three insurance companies out of about $142,000 by claiming their vehicle was damaged by a bear, the California Department of Insurance said.

The department said the group is accused of providing video footage of a “bear” moving through the San Bernardino Mountains inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes in January to insurance companies as part of damage claims. Photos provided by the insurance department show visible scratches on the seats and doors.

After watching the video of the Rolls-Royce, the company suspected that the person inside was not a bear, but someone in a bear costume.

Detectives found two additional claims from two different insurance companies for the four people on the same date of loss and at the same location. A similar video also featured the “bear” inside Mercedes vehicles.

It is not yet known whether the four arrested people have lawyers.

The insurance department had a biologist from the department’s California Department of Fish and Wildlife review three videos and concluded it was “clearly a human in a bear suit.”

After executing the search warrant, detectives found a bear costume at the suspects’ home, the department said.

Bears enter houses or trash bins used to find food has become a problem in California. Lake Tahoe From the Sierra to the suburbs on the outskirts of Los Angeles, some have been known to raid refrigerators and barge into backyards pools and hot tubs.