Author: Deep Tide TechFlow
Deep Tide Introduction: Less than two weeks after Iran announced it would collect Bitcoin transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, scammers impersonated Iranian officials and sent fake messages to stranded oil tankers demanding BTC and USDT.
At least one tanker that paid the fake transit fee was fired upon by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps when attempting to pass. Chain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis both stated that no large-scale on-chain evidence of cryptocurrency payments has been found so far.
Iran announced it would collect transit fees in Bitcoin, and within two weeks, scammers turned this narrative into a weapon.
According to a Reuters report on April 21, the maritime risk management company MARISKS issued a warning: unidentified individuals are posing as Iranian authorities and sending false messages to ships stranded on the western side of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding payment of "transit fees" in BTC or USDT in exchange for safe passage. MARISKS believes that at least one of the vessels fired upon by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboats on April 18, when Iran briefly opened the strait, was a victim of this scam.
The absurdity of the incident lies in the entire chain of causality: a sovereign state announces it will collect Bitcoin transit fees, scammers copy this rhetoric to commit fraud, shipowners believe it and pay, and then get shot at by the real Iranian military.
From "National-Level Settlement Tool" to Attack Surface for Scammers
The story begins in early April.
From March 30 to 31, the Iranian parliament passed the "Hormuz Strait Management Plan," formally writing into law the transit fee system that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had already been implementing since mid-March. According to the Financial Times, Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for the Iran Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters Union, confirmed that fully loaded tankers are required to pay a fee of $1 per barrel, with payment methods including Bitcoin, USDT, or Chinese yuan. A supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil could face a single transit fee of up to $2 million.
Upon the news, Bitcoin's price jumped 5%, briefly breaking through $72,700. The crypto community quickly interpreted this as a milestone validation of Bitcoin as a "neutral settlement layer for international trade." Institutions like Bitwise even linked it to predictions of Bitcoin reaching $1 million.
But there were also many skeptics.
Sam Lyman of the Bitcoin Policy Institute pointed out in a report on April 15 that large-scale collection of Bitcoin transit fees with existing technology is "almost impossible." Ari Redbord, global policy head at TRM Labs, told Fortune magazine that on-chain data does not show transit fee payments occurring on a large scale. Chainalysis, in its analysis report, noted that on-chain activities of entities linked to Iran primarily rely on USDT on the Tron network, not Bitcoin.
Scammers don't care about these technical debates. They only need a credible narrative, and the Iranian government has already written the script for them.
Ships That Paid the Fake Fee Got Shot at for Real
According to Reuters and DL News, the wording of the scam messages highly imitates official language. The scammers required shipowners to submit ship documents, claiming they would be assessed by the "Iranian security department." After passing the assessment, payment in BTC or USDT would be required, after which the ship could "safely pass through the strait at the scheduled time."
Approximately 400 ships and about 20,000 crew members are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf. With the U.S. blockading Iranian ports and Iran repeatedly opening and closing the strait for passage, the anxiety of shipowners is understandable. The scammers precisely exploited this anxiety.
On April 18, Iran briefly opened the strait, and some ships attempted to pass. According to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboats opened fire on an oil tanker trying to exit the strait, forcing it to turn back. MARISKS believes this tanker had previously paid the cryptocurrency "transit fee" to scammers, thinking it had obtained passage permission.
They paid, but the money didn't go to Iran. The ship was still shot at.
Paying Scammers Could Also Violate Sanctions Laws
Even more ironically, even if shipowners realize they have been scammed, the legal risks won't disappear.
Xue Yin Peh, investigation strategy head at Chainalysis, told Decrypt that regardless of whether the recipient is actually the Iranian authorities, as long as the payer intended to pay a sanctioned regime, it could constitute a violation of OFAC, EU, and UK sanctions regulations. In other words, even if you thought you were paying Iran and the money ended up in a scammer's pocket, regulators could still pursue your "subjective intent."
Isabella Chase, head of policy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at TRM Labs, also warned that any wallet addresses associated with such demands should be considered "high-risk," and cryptocurrency payments do not provide any "safe harbor" in terms of sanctions compliance.
This creates a nearly unsolvable dilemma for shipowners: paying Iran violates sanctions, paying scammers might also violate sanctions, and not paying means continuing to drift in the Persian Gulf.
"Bitcoin's Irreversibility" Turns from Advantage to Flaw
The most noteworthy aspect for the crypto industry to reflect on is how Bitcoin's core characteristics performed in this scenario.
Benzinga's report highlighted the key issue: cryptocurrency payments cannot be reversed once sent. Traditional bank transfers at least offer the possibility of freezing and recovery, but once Bitcoin or USDT is transferred, the funds are lost. This feature is called "trustless settlement" in normal commercial contexts but becomes "irrecoverable loss" in the combined scenario of war and fraud.
This might be the most absurd crypto story of 2026... Iran's plan to collect transit fees in Bitcoin may never have been truly implemented, but scammers have already made money from this story, and an oil tanker got shot because of it.
