Mystery Cargo Ship “FUCK JAPAN” Appears Near Diaoyu Islands — AIS Spoofing Suspected

On December 26, ship-tracking sites showed something unusual near the Diaoyu Islands – a cargo ship listed under the name FUCK JAPAN.

According to AIS (Automatic Identification System) data, the ship had been logged since the evening of 22 December, standing at zero knots about 155 meters north of the islands.

MarineTraffic, one of the main platforms for ship tracking, immediately marked the entry as suspicious and began the process of masking what they considered to be fake signals.

AIS data is publicly available online, and MarineTraffic showed not only this ship but also four China Coast Guard vessels in the same area around 5 p.m. On the 26th.

Maritime traffic records describe the cargo ship, 113 meters long and 16 meters wide, which was reportedly headed to Zhangzhou, Fujian province. Strangely, its arrival time using Beijing's time zone was listed as July 26, 2025 – already a date.

The ship was assigned the MMSI code "415280712", but no such entry exists in the IMO database. Generally, "414" is China, "416" is Taiwan, but "415" is not a valid prefix at all.

The Japan Coast Guard said they never saw the ship after the 22nd and did not confirm any physical presence in the area. Who created this spoof and where it originated from is still unclear.

Satellite radar images taken by the European Space Agency on the 24th also showed no sign of the ship north of the islands.

Satellite view of the Diaoyu Islands

MarineTraffic reported that the coordinates never changed, which is impossible under normal circumstances. They suspect AIS spoofing and are investigating the source. Fake AIS signals have been used before, including by ships accused of cutting undersea cables.

Japanese media reports suggest that Japan's coast guard patrols the area more frequently than China's, but keeps AIS turned off to protect its security patterns. Meanwhile, since March 2023, China's coast guard vessels have openly broadcast AIS while patrolling around the Diaoyu Islands to assert sovereignty and maritime rights.