A suspected fraudster dressed up in a bear costume before damaging cars in an insurance scam in the United States.

In January, a security camera captured unnerving footage: what appeared to be a bear had forced its way into a Rolls Royce parked outside a home in the Southern California resort community of Lake Arrowhead, gouged the seats and thrashed the interior.

Four friends in California devised a scheme to commit insurance fraud by using a bear costume to damage luxury cars.

Four people who allegedly dressed as bears and damaged their own luxury cars in a bid to defraud insurance companies were arrested in the US state of California on Wednesday.