Scammers trying to defraud shipping firms in the Strait of Hormuz

[mindrust]

Pretty clever. The ship captain might panic send crypto to the scammers because the situation is pretty hot there and scammers know that very well. They probably take help from AI too to make themselves look like the Iranian authorities. I wouldn’t be in their shoes at the moment. Those captains don’t know when the situation will get resolved, if ever and missiles are flying right above their heads and then there are those scammers that to bite off a piece from the action. I wonder what’s their pay rate. Whatever it is, I am sure it ain’t worth that trouble.

[bitbollo]

I think that in this situation they will made a couple of double checks before sending any payment...
would you not double verify the address? you don't ask a signed message or whatever?
I have seen from some bitcoiners the theory of the "toll" but this will be sponsored by governments, companies or bitcoiners?

[HajiBagi]

Any shipping company that fall for this scam should have themselves to blame because it’s very easy to detect, I don’t think Iranian government will directly contact any shipping company first on the ground of clearing them for passage through the strait. If the Iranian government said they were going to accept bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency for passage, they will also release ann official channels of contacting them. So any shipping company that’s willing to do business with them should contact them on their own and not rely on anyone contacting them claiming to be the representative of the Iranian government.

The company should be definitely be the one to blame because i don’t think Iranian government will contact any shipping company, it will be very hard for government to do that, scammers are very smart people that listen to everything that is happening in the world and they will like to use every opportunity they have to scam many companies and people, they know that this is an opportunity for them to scam many companies and scam them a amount that will give them a good life and that is not good.

They don’t have the mind to think that what they are doing is good or bad and anyone who fall in their trap will find it difficult to track them, we should be careful and know that a good company and legit people will never contact you first, don’t let anyone to deceive you and lost the money you can not afford to lose, if an company get scam of big amount that company will definitely go down.

[Issa56]

It is obvious scammers want to take advantage of the blockade in the middle East as well to enrich themselves, this is a smart move to defraud shipping companies trying to cross the Strait. It is believed that at lease one of the boats that tried to cross the strait on Saturday and was hit by gunfire was a victim of the scam and may have paid to the them thinking they've secured pass from the Iranian government.

According to MARISKS, unidentified people have been contacting shipping firms, falsely claiming to represent Iranian authorities. These messages demand payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Tether in exchange for clearance to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. "These specific messages are a scam," the firm said, adding the message was not sent by Iranian authorities.

Source

Scammers are always looking for a way to defraud people, who will think they going to make use of a strategy like this, honestly this is so sad and they just risking people’s life. shipping companies will just have to be smart, and make sure they make verifications before making any payment. I saw a video where a ship was asking the Iranian Army to stop shooting at him, that they gave him approval to pass, I feel the shipping company paid to scammer’s, and the scammer’s were the ones that gave them the approval, and not the Iranian government, seriously those scammers are suppose to be tracked and arrested, things like this will cause more problem.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Scammers are everywhere but they should know that even if they paid Iran for a safe passage they will face US blockade later on and possibly get seized.
The Majestic X Tanker that headed to China is getting Seized by the US navy just recently.

There is no way to sail through Strait of Hormuz beside just staying there until the current tension is resolved, what do they expect?

[bitgolden]

It's not really that possible, or should be possible, for these million dollar ships to fall for such a simple scam. I am not sure if they do, or if they figured out, but at the end of the day we are talking about a thing that is looking quite obvious to me, and should not be that much of a complicated to anyone really.

I personally think that the best we can do at this case would be that we should not be really falling for this, unless there is an official contact between nations, it's that simple.

[Fiatless]

It's not really that possible, or should be possible, for these million dollar ships to fall for such a simple scam. I am not sure if they do, or if they figured out, but at the end of the day we are talking about a thing that is looking quite obvious to me, and should not be that much of a complicated to anyone really.

I personally think that the best we can do at this case would be that we should not be really falling for this, unless there is an official contact between nations, it's that simple.

In recent times these big firms have suffered hacks that have led to the theft of information. These hackers will usually ask for ransom from these companies. This type of scam, as stated in the original post, is outdated. This is because there are now several means of communicating with relevant authorities. And there should be a verified contact between parties before payment is made. Anyway, there have been no reports that any shipping company has been scammed through this format.

[hopenotlate]

I must admit that these are undoubtedly the most unscrupulous scammers I can remember: getting involved in an intrigue that is damaging the global economy and could potentially start the Third World War (in my opinion), which is widening the gap between the two major ones, really means asking for very serious trouble.

One of two things: either they are people who really know what they are doing or they are reckless people who don't realize what they are risking.

[iv4n]

I must admit that these are undoubtedly the most unscrupulous scammers I can remember: getting involved in an intrigue that is damaging the global economy and could potentially start the Third World War (in my opinion), which is widening the gap between the two major ones, really means asking for very serious trouble.

One of two things: either they are people who really know what they are doing or they are reckless people who don't realize what they are risking.

Yes, they are not just "scammers".... they are knowingly sending people to their deaths. Crews can be wiped out because they thought they had a safe passage.

I don't know if they are doing it on purpose with some plans in their heads, or if they are in it just for the money... either way, what they are doing is evil.

[WatChe]

Shipping firms are not run by novice people rather than experienced people and they have complete picture of what is happening in Strait of Hormuz. There is standoff between US and Iran in Strait and President Trump has already announced that they will seize any ship that will pay toll to Iran. How can someone will help a ship in crossing Strait of Hormuz while big powers like US and Iran have closed the path. If any shipping company is paying money to some third party for that matter then its mistake at shipping company end.  

[el kaka22]

Scammers are really lowest of the low in the world .These ships are the way that we could have the whole world paying lesser for things and not have high inflation and they are still trying to make it worse. So in theory, just because they want to make some money they do not care about the whole world getting worse, they are fine with it, as long as they are richer, they are fine with everyone else being poorer.

How could someone live like that and be ok, I would not be able to even go to sleep, and they are all fine about it and not having any type of regret or anything, they are happy even for doing something like this. I do hope that these people are all caught and jailed for life, these people have moral compass issue, and that will not be fixed in jail, so they should never get out.

[M47AK16]

Scammers are really lowest of the low in the world .These ships are the way that we could have the whole world paying lesser for things and not have high inflation and they are still trying to make it worse. So in theory, just because they want to make some money they do not care about the whole world getting worse, they are fine with it, as long as they are richer, they are fine with everyone else being poorer.

How could someone live like that and be ok, I would not be able to even go to sleep, and they are all fine about it and not having any type of regret or anything, they are happy even for doing something like this. I do hope that these people are all caught and jailed for life, these people have moral compass issue, and that will not be fixed in jail, so they should never get out.

There are millions of minds working in different ways. We for sure can't have a goodnight sleep even after thinking about it but for these scammers, they can't sleep if they don't scam anyone. I don't know how these scammers are able to face themselves every morning. I would say these people are shameless and do not really care about the world. All they want is profit for themselves. I bet these people can't find love in their life and even their parents might not have any high hopes from them. These people are a harm to the society.

Even if we know the truth, the harsh reality is that there is almost no way to stop these scammers in any way. Scammers tend to use more brains to innovate scam deals. They would spend hours in picturing the concept to their victims.

[Davidvictorson]

It is obvious scammers want to take advantage of the blockade in the middle East as well to enrich themselves, this is a smart move to defraud shipping companies trying to cross the Strait. It is believed that at lease one of the boats that tried to cross the strait on Saturday and was hit by gunfire was a victim of the scam and may have paid to the them thinking they've secured pass from the Iranian government.

According to MARISKS, unidentified people have been contacting shipping firms, falsely claiming to represent Iranian authorities. These messages demand payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Tether in exchange for clearance to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. "These specific messages are a scam," the firm said, adding the message was not sent by Iranian authorities.

Source

lol
Scammers will do everything to take advantage of an unfortunate or “fortunate “ situation whatever they see as an opportunity. Well, for now it is still blocked and no longer by the original guys who they were referring to, so there’s nothing the scammers can do now. But I do expect them not to give it but cook up something else just like they always do. Remember to always verify any message before engaging them.

[shinratensei_]

I must admit that these are undoubtedly the most unscrupulous scammers I can remember: getting involved in an intrigue that is damaging the global economy and could potentially start the Third World War (in my opinion), which is widening the gap between the two major ones, really means asking for very serious trouble.

One of two things: either they are people who really know what they are doing or they are reckless people who don't realize what they are risking.

They are making things even worse than it already is indeed. I've never seen vessel going through strait of hormuz even with the tolls imposed because nobody are sure whether they can go through or not.
With some unidentified people trying to scam these vessels, nobody will try to pass. These scammers also risk the ship crew getting into dangerous situation by falsifying claim that they are given the pass.

[arwin100]

It is obvious scammers want to take advantage of the blockade in the middle East as well to enrich themselves, this is a smart move to defraud shipping companies trying to cross the Strait. It is believed that at lease one of the boats that tried to cross the strait on Saturday and was hit by gunfire was a victim of the scam and may have paid to the them thinking they've secured pass from the Iranian government.

According to MARISKS, unidentified people have been contacting shipping firms, falsely claiming to represent Iranian authorities. These messages demand payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Tether in exchange for clearance to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. "These specific messages are a scam," the firm said, adding the message was not sent by Iranian authorities.

Source

lol
Scammers will do everything to take advantage of an unfortunate or “fortunate “ situation whatever they see as an opportunity. Well, for now it is still blocked and no longer by the original guys who they were referring to, so there’s nothing the scammers can do now. But I do expect them not to give it but cook up something else just like they always do. Remember to always verify any message before engaging them.

They go on where they can possibly exploit money. These scammers provably have the data's of shipping companies and they tried to exploit the situation thinking that they can stole lots of money from desperate company owners want to pass on that place.

But hopefully there's no fallen victim of those schemes they have done and this situations shows that scammers is everywhere. Companies or people need to be vigilant on possible impersonation and scamming attempts and yeah always verify those messages also offers they get came from random people online.

[Exitoral]

I think personally people will fall for scams easily if there is a form of fear or crisis like the strait of Hormuz passage.

As for cryptocurrency, this can be a negative imprint on it. But things like this have been happening and it didn't really hurt cryptocurrency because crypto itself is solving a massive problem.

Cryptocurrency gives this freedom and untraceable tool. Which in the eyes of scammers is goldmine. Whether we like it or not, it will forever be a goldmine for scammers. All we can do is find a way to be smarter than the hackers to avoid being scammed.

To avoid scams in the future. All you have to do is first be in control of yourself. That tension, fidgeting and so on is really bad. As that can be used against you. Also take note of your environment. Little things that don't matter, will matter a lot. Read articles of scams and how they do what they do. That way, you stay informed.

Cryptocurrency will always be associated with scams whether we like it or not because of the freedom it gives including it being untraceable. What authorities can do at this point is to step up and handle large scale scam like this one?

What do you think readers, authorities can do to reduce or eliminate scams?

[DiMarxist]

One thing that I have been able to note when it comes to scammers is the fact that, they try to use everything to their advantage. So am not too particularly surprised about this news. I only pray and hope that these shipping lines should not fall victims to these types of scam and lose their company funds. But what a dumb type of scam if this news is true and anything to go because everyone knows that the strait of Hormuz is locked down on both sides one by Iranian military while the United States is also blocking the other side as a counter blockage measures. So I don't think no company will ever fall victim to this.

[Jatiluhung]

Pretty clever. The ship captain might panic send crypto to the scammers because the situation is pretty hot there and scammers know that very well. They probably take help from AI too to make themselves look like the Iranian authorities. I wouldn’t be in their shoes at the moment. Those captains don’t know when the situation will get resolved, if ever and missiles are flying right above their heads and then there are those scammers that to bite off a piece from the action. I wonder what’s their pay rate. Whatever it is, I am sure it ain’t worth that trouble.

Well, this pretty crazy situation must have left the shipping company stranded in the Strait of Hormuz feeling quite desperate or terrified. In such a situation, it’s hard to even maintain a clear head. Scammers are surely playing psychological games to unsettle the victimized company. I find this quite sad. And I hope nothing like this happens again after this incident.

And I’m quite certain that in this scam, there was also some kind of threat that genuinely terrified those ships. And from reports I’ve read from other sources, as of April 22nd, at least two ships were brutally fired upon while attempting to exit the strait. It’s suspected that both ships were indeed victims of the scam. these scammers are clearly quite ruthless because they’re taking advantage of the panic amidst the chaos.

Reference/sourch: https://pintu.co.id/news/275104-3-fakta-penipuan-cryptocurrency-tol-selat-hormuz-2026

[Onyeeze]

It is obvious scammers want to take advantage of the blockade in the middle East as well to enrich themselves, this is a smart move to defraud shipping companies trying to cross the Strait. It is believed that at lease one of the boats that tried to cross the strait on Saturday and was hit by gunfire was a victim of the scam and may have paid to the them thinking they've secured pass from the Iranian government.

According to MARISKS, unidentified people have been contacting shipping firms, falsely claiming to represent Iranian authorities. These messages demand payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Tether in exchange for clearance to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. "These specific messages are a scam," the firm said, adding the message was not sent by Iranian authorities.

Source

one thing that causes scam is when you are interested to get something at a cheaper rate but when you are not interested you will not be scam in any means, will you conduct a proper investigation so that you know if what they are telling you will be okay or not, so anyone that is being scammed that person is interested to get more things without verifications so been victims of scam sometimes it happens out of negligence and is we can be able to control our interest in making money I don't think that you can be easily be scammed so what I'm saying is that this can of scam move or scam it is cost by those people then scammed