Overview
- Greek security firm MARISKS warned that scammers are sending shipping companies fake “clearance” offers that demand payment in Bitcoin or Tether for safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
- The messages claim Iranian Security Services will review a vessel’s documents, set a crypto fee, and then allow the ship to pass at a set time without interference.
- One vessel that came under fire while trying to exit the strait on April 18 may have been deceived by the scheme, according to MARISKS.
- Reuters said it has not verified which companies received the messages, and MARISKS said the messages did not come from Iranian authorities.
- The warning lands during rolling closures and proposed tolls that have left hundreds of ships and about 20,000 seafarers stuck at a chokepoint that once carried about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.