diff --git a/cmd/podman/system/service_abi.go b/cmd/podman/system/service_abi.go
index 68ac8902bc..82419ff1a1 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/system/service_abi.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/system/service_abi.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func restService(flags *pflag.FlagSet, cfg *entities.PodmanConfig, opts entities
 				return fmt.Errorf("unable to create socket %v: %w", host, err)
 			}
 		default:
-			logrus.Debugf("Attempting API Service endpoint scheme %q", uri.Scheme)
+			return fmt.Errorf("API Service endpoint scheme %q is not supported. Try tcp://%s or unix:/%s", uri.Scheme, opts.URI, opts.URI)
 		}
 		libpodRuntime.SetRemoteURI(uri.String())
 	}
diff --git a/test/system/251-system-service.bats b/test/system/251-system-service.bats
index 197d1cb18e..3af42b4554 100644
--- a/test/system/251-system-service.bats
+++ b/test/system/251-system-service.bats
@@ -14,6 +14,14 @@ function teardown() {
     basic_teardown
 }
 
+@test "podman systerm service <bad_scheme_uri> returns error" {
+    skip_if_remote "podman system service unavailable over remote"
+    run_podman 125 system service localhost:9292
+    is "$output" "Error: API Service endpoint scheme \"localhost\" is not supported. Try tcp://localhost:9292 or unix:/localhost:9292"
+
+    run_podman 125 system service myunix.sock
+    is "$output" "Error: API Service endpoint scheme \"\" is not supported. Try tcp://myunix.sock or unix:/myunix.sock"
+}
 
 @test "podman-system-service containers survive service stop" {
     skip_if_remote "podman system service unavailable over remote"