diff --git a/cmd/podman/images/scp.go b/cmd/podman/images/scp.go
index 81dcda123d..d07a5d99d3 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/images/scp.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/images/scp.go
@@ -146,6 +146,17 @@ func scp(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (finalErr error) {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	allLocal := true // if we are all localhost, do not validate connections but if we are using one localhost and one non we need to use sshd
+	for _, val := range cliConnections {
+		if !strings.Contains(val, "@localhost::") {
+			allLocal = false
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if allLocal {
+		cliConnections = []string{}
+	}
+
 	var serv map[string]config.Destination
 	serv, err = GetServiceInformation(cliConnections, cfg)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/podman/images/scp_utils.go b/cmd/podman/images/scp_utils.go
index c488616c9c..a85687a421 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/images/scp_utils.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/images/scp_utils.go
@@ -17,12 +17,13 @@ func parseImageSCPArg(arg string) (*entities.ImageScpOptions, []string, error) {
 	cliConnections := []string{}
 
 	switch {
-	case strings.Contains(arg, "@localhost"): // image transfer between users
+	case strings.Contains(arg, "@localhost::"): // image transfer between users
 		location.User = strings.Split(arg, "@")[0]
 		location, err = validateImagePortion(location, arg)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, err
 		}
+		cliConnections = append(cliConnections, arg)
 	case strings.Contains(arg, "::"):
 		location, err = validateImagePortion(location, arg)
 		if err != nil {