Shipowners are receiving fraudulent messages requesting crypto payments in exchange for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and at least one may have been duped, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Marisks, a Greek maritime risk services company, issued a warning saying that several shipping companies had received messages from scammers posing as Iranian authorities and asking for bitcoins or USDT. The firm said it believed at least one ship fell victim to the scam and was shot at while trying to cross the strait over the weekend, Reuters said.
Maritime traffic through the strait has been largely blocked by Iran since February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a war against the Middle Eastern country. According to Reuters, there are approximately 20,000 oil tankers and other cargo ships stranded in the Gulf.
A week ago, US President Donald Trump ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and has since seized an Iranian ship that was trying to evade the operation.
On April 9, Tehran, which controls the bottleneck, proposed crypto tolls on ships in exchange for safe transit. Hamid Hosseini, spokesman for the Union of Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exporters, said crypto fees would likely be charged in bitcoins.
Marisks issued its alert on Monday. Iran has not made any comment, Reuters added.
“These specific messages are a scam,” Marisks said, assuring that the messages did not come from official Iranian sources.
“After providing the documents and evaluating your eligibility by the Iranian Security Services, we will be able to determine the fee to be paid in cryptocurrency (BTC or USDT). Only then will your ship be able to transit the strait without obstacles at the previously agreed upon time,” the fraudulent message cited by Marisks said, according to Reuters.
The shipping company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoinDesk.
