Two people from Los Angeles now face federal charges. Yuchen Wang and Xi Zhou are accused of helping run a scheme against a Rio Grande Valley woman. Prosecutors say she lost about $196,000.

Wang and Zhou are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. That means working with others to cheat someone using phones, texts, or online tools. A third man, Kang Ye, is already charged in the same case. Agents caught Ye at a border checkpoint with $130,000 in cash.

The stop happened on Jan. 22 at the Falfurrias checkpoint. Agents say a black Ford Expedition pulled up around 8:15 p.m. The SUV was working as an Uber ride. The driver was a U.S. citizen. Ye was a passenger inside.

Agents found out Ye was a Chinese citizen. He was in the country illegally. He showed agents his work permit. That is when agents found the cash in his bag, along with a receipt from Vantage Bank.

During questioning, Ye said he was living in California. He said a man he called Boss had recruited him. Boss told Ye to go to Edinburg and move some money. Ye said he expected to be paid well for the job.

Ye flew to Houston. From there, he took an Uber to Edinburg. A woman met him and gave him a bag of money. According to the criminal complaint, "Ye stated he believed they were scamming the victim."

Court records say the scheme began in October 2025. Ye and another person started working together to cheat the woman. Members of the group called her. They said they were financial fraud investigators. They said they could help her get stolen money back.

They told her she had to pay fees first. They said the fees covered the cost of the investigation. They promised she would get all her money back later.

The group told her to send money in different ways. She sent cash through couriers. She also bought gift cards from several stores over the phone.

A person calling himself Ricky or Paul first contacted her. He told her he was a fraud specialist. He said her account at Neighbors and Families Together Federal Credit Union was missing money.

The group also gained her trust with a fake crypto wallet. They sent her a code for an app called Trust. She could only view the wallet. She could not put money in or take money out. The wallet showed four accounts. Together, they held about $326,000.

The woman later told investigators she withdrew $196,000 since November. She made three separate withdrawals. She said the $130,000 that Ye carried was a bank loan. She picked Ye out of a photo lineup with six pictures.

Court records describe a pattern. Callers posed as investigators who could recover stolen funds. They asked for upfront fees. They collected payment through couriers, gift cards, and a wallet app that only they controlled.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty. Xi Zhou and Kang Ye have a final pretrial hearing set for late September. A pretrial hearing is a court meeting where lawyers get ready before a trial starts.

Yuchen Wang had a first court appearance Tuesday morning. A judge allowed Wang to stay out of jail on bond. It is not yet clear what role Wang and Zhou played in the scheme.

A charge is not the same as a conviction. Each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The case remains open in federal court.