The U.S. Department of Justice charged two suspects for allegedly leading a crime ring that laundered at least $73 million from cryptocurrency investment scams, also known as "pig butchering."

In pig butchering scams, criminals approach targets using various messaging apps, dating platforms, or social media platforms to build trust and introduce them to investment schemes that help them drain the victims' cryptocurrency wallets. Instead of investing the victims' funds as initially promised, the fraudsters siphon all their cryptocurrency to accounts and crypto wallets under their control.