A scam targeting ships caught up in the Strait of Hormuz is offering fraudulent transit clearance in exchange for cryptocurrency payments, Greek maritime risk management firm MARISKS said.
According to Reuters, MARISKS said unknown actors posing as Iranian officials approached shipowners with demands for payments in Bitcoin or Tether, presenting the transfers as fees required for transit approval.
One of the messages cited by MARISKS said a vessel’s documents would first be reviewed by Iranian security services, after which a cryptocurrency payment would be determined. Only then, it said, would the ship be allowed to pass through the strait at a scheduled time without disruption.
MARISKS added that at least one vessel that attempted to leave the strait on Saturday and later came under gunfire may also have been targeted by the scam. The warning comes as hundreds of ships and around 20,000 seafarers remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, with commercial traffic still caught up in the wider regional conflict.
Oil Barrels, Paid in Bitcoin
The scam emerged after reports that Tehran was considering a formal fee system for vessels seeking to cross the Strait of Hormuz during a temporary ceasefire.
Instead of charging all vessels a standard fee, the proposal would have based the cost on cargo volumes, with payments expected in Bitcoin and the rate set at $1 for each barrel of oil on board, according to Hamid Hosseini, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union.
That structure would turn the strait into an even more expensive route for energy shippers. For the largest crude carriers, the cost of a single voyage could climb into the millions of dollars, piling financial pressure onto an industry already struggling with security threats and delays.
Stablecoins Become Part of the Shipping Dispute
The idea of using Bitcoin also followed earlier discussion of alternative payment options, including yuan and dollar-linked stablecoins, such as USDT and USDC.
Under the reported proposal, vessels would have to provide cargo details, ownership information, and destination data before being cleared to sail. For a fully loaded supertanker, the cost of a single passage could climb to around $2 million, depending on the cargo, similar to what had been suggested under the earlier Bitcoin proposal.
To Fee or Not to Fee
Reports that Iran could impose transit charges on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz were met with pushback from President Trump, who warned that Tehran should not be charging tankers to use the waterway and later escalated that stance by threatening to block vessels that made such payments.
He repeated that message, saying Iran could not use the strait to “blackmail” the United States, signaling Washington’s clear opposition to any arrangement that would allow Tehran to collect fees for access to Hormuz.
