As AML & Financial Crime Investigators, conducting copious amounts of research can be time consuming. With an increase in fraud and money laundering activities; there is also an increase in workload and the expectations for analysts. We conduct several searches just to find that one link, article, document, or any piece/pieces of information that will resolve our case. And we try to do all this in a timely matter without costing our employer any money. That is quite a hefty responsibility we bare. This site was created as a guide containing various free external sources to hopefully make conducting external research a bit easier.
Thank you and Happy Researching!
*Note: This site and its contents are for research and educational purposes. You are encouraged to use these links, but please ask your manager for specific guidance and continue to follow procedures outlined through your employer.
LET'S DO SOME RESEARCH
H-2A Labor Certification Debarment List(Agriculture and Farming)
Industry Canada- Corporation Search
Insider Pages (business reviews)
Standard Industrial Classification- SIC System Search
CuteStat.com (Website Stats and Valuation)
Follow That Page (monitors webpage and sends email if update made)
Wayback (it allows the user to go “back in time” and see what websites looked like in the past)
Website Traffic Tracker and Domain Tools1 (review website statistics)
Website Traffic Tracker and Domain Tools2 (review website statistics)
Sorry, no quick links here. I wish it were that simple. I do, however, have a few suggestions on some ways to conduct searches to find a relationship.
Try searching using both names
Try narrowing results by removing middle name, initials, corporate identifiers, etc.
Try narrowing results by putting the name in "quotation marks"
Try narrowing results by including occupation/industry/business name
Try narrowing results by including city and/or state
If it’s a business, review their website to see if they mention the counterparty as a client (Note: they may use the counterparty’s logo instead of a business name).
*Try searching by customer name and last name of the counterparty or vice versa (Note: it is very rare, but I have found some good information this way a few times).
You can also try a combination of the search parameters mentioned above. Just remember too many search variables or restrictions/specifics will limit your results. So start with big searches first and add additional factors to narrow your results down.
Also, be mindful of individuals who have AKA, DBAs, or multiple last names. This may require additional searches.
Common Warning Signs or “Red Flags” for Tax Fraud (Tax Evasion)
H-2A Labor Certification Debarment List (Agriculture/Farming)
Market Value and Prices of Illegal Goods and Services (black market prices)
Real ID- REAL ID Documents By US State and Territory
Tax Evasion vs Tax Avoidance (info & definition from IRS)
Bin Lookup Credit Card and Debit Card Tools1 (Bank identification number-the initial 4-6 numbers that appear on a credit card).
FFIEC Manual-Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) AKA "AML Bible"
Financial Regulators Getaway-(Law and Regulation in the US and World)
Foreign Agents Registration Act - Quick Search
Internal Affairs Office - Professional Licensing & Related Searchable Databases
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - (this link has info on the cash intensive audit techniques - I have found very useful in investigations)
Routing Number Lookup- (personally, I tend this link because information can be pulled with just a few numbers sometimes the full routing number is not provided). This tool provides enough information to narrow down a search with little)
RSSD Lookup - (Research, Statistics, Supervision, and Discount)
Search for FINRA (US Securities and Exchange Commission Disciplinary Actions)
State Websites Links- (Find Each State's Online Searchable Databases)
The Public Records Authority- State Occupational Licensing Boards
The World Bank Data (Country and Indicator Demographics)- Free and open access to global development data
Common Scams and Fraud via USA.GOV
Fake Name and Information Generator (create a fictious name and information (automated))
Federal Trade Commission Trade Consumer Information (list of recentscam information)
Info on Forged Signatures (informative document)
Info on Forgery and Forged Documents (informative document)
Real ID- REAL ID Documents By US State and Territory
What License Should like for Each State (Spot a Fake)
Dogpile (pulls info from Google, Yahoo and Yandex- Russian Portal)
DuckDuckGo (tool for searches you don't want tracked)
International Directory of Search Engines- various international search engines
'Lava Jato' The Brasilian Operation- "Car Wash" (Brazil website)
List of Search Engines (various search engines by country)
Million Short- search remove the top of the search engine results
Open Knowledge Maps (conduct research to understand topics)
Search Opener- conduct multiple searches at once
Wolfram Alpha- an online service that answers factual queries directly
Yandex- Russian search engine
Yippy- (metasearch engine that groups search results into clusters)
GetHuman (find company contact information)
Health Guide USA (professional license lookup)
Lava Jota Operation- "Car Wash" (Brazil website)
Littlesis (database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government)
MyLife.com (people search)
Peek You (people search)
PI.Buzz (nationwide employment locator)
The Public Record Authority (public search)
Alilbaba (global wholesale trade)
Baidu (China search engine)
Bizeurope (Europe Biz)
Canada411.ca (look up phones & address)
Charity Navigator- Charity Search (Canada)
Country Insight Reports- basic level country guide which covers language society culture, custom, and etiquette (includes facts and statistics)
Eniro (Sweden search engine)
Industry Canada- Corporation Search
International Trade Administration (Country Code Guides)
Master Seeker- conduct large business searches
Najdi.si (Slovenian search engine)
Naver.com (South Korean search engine)
Onet.pl- (Polish search engine)
Seznam (Czech Republic search engine)
TheLawPages- Quick links to understand legalese (legal jarjon)
Family Watchdog- Registered Sex Offender Search
Travel.State.Gov. (Travel Data)
Wigle.net (maps & database of wireless networks & stats)
Grammarly (Free Online Writing Assistant)
Fake Name and Information Generator (create a fictious name and information (automated))
Follow the Money (Political Contribution Records)
Haveibeenpwned (check to see if you have account comprises in data breaches)
Open Source Intelligence Tools (OSINT Framework)-focused on gathering information from free tools or resources.
Property Search (real estate property search)
UCC Liens (all states listed)
AirNav Radar Box (live flight tracker & airport status)
Boat, Yacht, & Ship Information Center (verify vessel registration information)
Federal Aviation Administration (Airmen verification)
HS Codes and Finder (Freight Finder)
Search Global Trade Data (track shipping information)
The Observatory Economic Complexity (OEC) (world's leading data visualization tools for interational trade data)
USA Census Bureau Trade Resources (gives current and cumulative U.S. export and import data)
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for each state
Welcome,
My name is Thamecia Bullard, CAMS. I'm an Anti-Money Laundering, Fraud, and Financial Crimes Professional with nearly 10 years of experience. I'm always looking for ways to assist analysts and thought it'd be helpful to have an external research platform to help centralize many of the tools we as professionals use everyday. I plan to update this page often with new links as I continue learning and growing in this industry.
I hope you find this website and its tools helpful. If you, have any questions or comments please contact me. I can be reached directly via LinkedIn. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Thamecia Bullard, CAMS
Please Note: The information and views expressed here are that of my own, and it does not reflect the views, policies or procedures of my current employer.