The U.S. Department of Justice today said it indicted four people and arrested two of them for laundering millions of dollars from cryptocurrency investment “pig butchering” scams.

Pig butchering scams are a type of cryptocurrency investment scam where fraudsters initially contact potential victims through cold messaging or other methods in an attempt to develop a bond with them before pretending to offer profitable investment opportunities. Over time, they encourage the victims to invest more money, often using social engineering techniques.

Once a significant amount of money is invested, the scammers cut off communication and disappear with the funds, leaving the victims with substantial financial losses. The scam, an English translation of the Chinese term sha zhu pan, is named for the way it “fattens” the victim’s investment before “slaughtering” it.

The four accused in the indictment are Lu Zhang, 36, of Alhambra, California; Justin Walker, 31, of Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, of Rosemead, California; and Hailong Zhu, 40, of Naperville, Illinois. They have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, concealment money laundering and international money laundering. Zhang and Walker were arrested yesterday and have already appeared before the federal court.

The four accused are alleged to have opened shell companies and bank accounts to launder victim proceeds from pig butchering and other fraudulent schemes and transferring funds to domestic and international financial institutions. The overall fraud scheme is believed to have involved at least 284 transactions and resulted in more than $80 million in victim losses, with more than $20 million in victim funds directly deposited into bank accounts associated with the defendants.

If convicted, the accused face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The indictments follow an alert issued by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in September, which stated that multiple U.S. law enforcement sources estimate victims in the U.S. have lost billions of dollars to pig butchering scams and other virtual currency investment frauds.

“This scam has impacted far too many Americans, which is why FinCEN is sounding the alarm and asking financial institutions to report suspicious activity indicative of this scheme,” FinCEN Acting Director Himamauli Das said at the time. “Suspicious Activity Reports filed by financial institutions will enable law enforcement to both aid victims and track down the perpetrators.”

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