Three residents of Los Angeles County were arrested in connection with alleged investment schemes known as 'pig butchering', which reportedly defrauded victims of $13 million. The suspects, identified as Mingzhi Li, Zeyue Jia, and Jun Shi, are accused of using shell companies to launder the stolen funds. This crackdown is part of a broader effort by federal agents targeting financial crimes, particularly those involving cryptocurrency. The schemes have been linked to a larger trend of online scams, which have become a $500 billion industry, surpassing the global drug trade. In a related case, two men from New York were also arrested for attempting to scam a Lake County woman out of $750,000 worth of gold bars, highlighting the increasing prevalence of such fraudulent activities.