Email Scam Diverts $200,000 Crew Settlement From Maritime P&I Agent

A local AP&I correspondent has been hit by a highly sophisticated email-interception scam that diverted $200,000 meant for a crew-death settlement, underscoring the rising threat of payment fraud across the maritime industry.

The case, outlined in a recent alert from the International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC), shows just how far criminal networks are now going to impersonate legitimate parties during time-sensitive claims.

Short for Association of Protection & Indemnity correspondent, an AP&I correspondent is the local on-the-ground representative of a shipowner’s P&I Club in ports around the world.

According to ITIC, the fraudster quietly infiltrated email correspondence linked to a sensitive crew-claim settlement and then posed as multiple stakeholders — including members of the deceased seafarer’s family — using convincing fake email addresses and forged documents.

“This case is a stark reminder of how sophisticated payment-interception fraud has become,” said Mark Brattman, Claims Director at ITIC. “Email interception is a well-known method of fraud and it often targets high-value payments, particularly where the correspondence is sensitive or time-pressured.”

Believing the communications were genuine, the correspondent transferred the full settlement to the bank account supplied by the impostor. The deception was only uncovered when the real family later contacted the correspondent to ask why the payment had never arrived. By then, the funds had already been withdrawn and could not be recovered.

The damage didn’t stop there.

After notifying its P&I Club, the correspondent had to appoint lawyers to confirm the claimant’s identity and complete the settlement properly. The member was forced to pay the $200,000 a second time from its own funds, along with additional legal costs to ensure the family ultimately received the compensation owed.

“The quality of fraudulent emails is constantly improving and it is becoming almost impossible to tell if it is fraudulent just from reading it,” Brattman warned. “Checks need to be made to verify if the emails are real.”

ITIC ultimately reimbursed the correspondent for both the lost settlement and the follow-on legal costs, concluding that the incident stemmed from a failure to detect fraudulent communications and to properly verify new banking instructions.

The insurer is now urging transport professionals to treat any changes to payment details as a major red flag.

“Any changes to bank details should be seen as a huge red flag,” Brattman said. “If the bank account is in a different country to where the real payee is located, or if the account name differs from the real payee’s name, this should immediately set alarm bells ringing.”

ITIC recommends that all payment instructions be verified using secure, multi-channel checks — including calling publicly listed telephone numbers from official websites rather than relying on contact details contained in emails.

“We strongly encourage members to put robust fraud-prevention measures in place and maintain strong internal controls, especially when managing settlements or any other critical payments,” Brattman added.

With more than a century of experience and over 3,650 members in 110 countries, ITIC says the case highlights a stark reality for maritime operators: in today’s threat environment, email alone is no longer a safe channel for moving money.

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