Crypto Fraudsters Target Stranded Seafarers With Fake Hormuz Toll Scheme
Scammers are exploiting the Hormuz disaster amid the US-Iran warfare. Greek maritime threat agency MARISKS issued the rip-off warning on Monday.
According to the agency, fraudsters posing as Iranian authorities are messaging transport corporations whose vessels are stranded, demanding digital asset funds for supposed “safe-passage” clearance.
How the Scam Exploits Iran’s Real Crypto Toll Scheme
The rip-off attracts plausibility from an precise coverage announcement in Tehran. Iran recently stated that, during the two-week ceasefire, oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz can be required to pay tolls of as much as $2 million in cryptocurrency.
Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, advised the Financial Times that vessels should first submit cargo particulars through e mail to Iranian authorities. Following this, they are going to be issued a toll payment, reportedly payable in Bitcoin (BTC).
The fraudsters weaponize that legitimacy. According to MARISKS, unidentified actors approached transport corporations with messages demanding transit charges in Bitcoin or Tether (USDT), in exchange for so-called “clearance.” However, the agency careworn that “these particular messages are a rip-off.”
Their messages mimic bureaucratic language, citing Iranian Security Services checks and pre-agreed transit home windows to seem genuine.
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“After offering the paperwork and assessing your eligibility by the Iranian Security Services, we can decide the payment to be paid in cryptocurrency (BTC or USDT). Only then will your vessel have the ability to transit the strait unimpeded on the pre-agreed time,” read the message cited by MARISKS.
The fraud could already carry notable consequences. MARISKS believes that at the least one vessel fired upon on Saturday had paid scammers.
Roughly 20% of worldwide oil handed by means of Hormuz earlier than the warfare. With a whole bunch of ships and round 20,000 seafarers now stranded within the Gulf, the disruption has created a broad and vulnerable pool of potential victims.
The rip-off provides to a broader surge in crypto-enabled crime. Industry data shows that April 2026 noticed roughly $606 million in losses throughout 12 hacking incidents.
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