OSINT Blog
Money Mules: How Organized Crime Groups Recruit Via Social Media For Money Laundering
When criminals profit from crime, they need to make their money look legitimate. Criminals avoid using their bank accounts to transfer their criminal funds directly as this would easily link them to their criminality. The criminals first want to move the money around to create a complicated trial. To do this, they launder the money, moving it around…
Continue ReadingDigital Policing: Conducting Internet Investigations in an Increasingly Digitized World
Technology plays a significant and central part in almost everything humans do. By the end of 2021, the number of internet users worldwide stood at roughly 4.9 billion people, almost two-thirds of the global population. The majority of people using the internet have no links to criminality and the protection of their right to privacy has always been,…
Continue ReadingSource Code: Investigating Websites Beneath the Surface
Source code is the programming language behind any web page or piece of software. Source code lies beneath the surface of a web page and contains embedded text, images, and videos. Source code can provide valuable insights to an investigator, providing a plethora of information hidden from public view.
Continue ReadingIntroducing Pre-Check
In an increasingly online, remote world, no business is safe from financial fraud. In an effort to streamline fraud analysis Skopenow is excited to launch Pre-Check, a new API based product that immediately assesses digital risk and verifies customer input. Integrating the Pre-Check API into existing claims or case management systems allows customers…
Continue ReadingProceeds of Crime: Repurposing Criminal Funds to Fight Crime
Almost all criminal activities yield profits. The profits of such criminal activity are referred to as the proceeds of crime. The term ‘proceeds of crime’ includes any property or assets derived from or obtained, directly or indirectly, through the commission of or in connection with a criminal offense. The proceeds of crime include property derived…
Continue ReadingOffshore Leaks: Investigating Dirty Money and White Collar Crime
Tax havens are jurisdictions with significantly low rates of taxation for foreign investors, which may also offer financial secrecy. With the help of white-collar professionals, like lawyers and accountants, the wealthy can avoid taxes by shifting their money offshore and parking it in foreign nations.
Continue ReadingConnecting the Dots: Social Network Analysis in Criminal Investigation
Investigators frequently need to establish if two or more individuals or businesses connected to an investigation are associated with one another in any way. Identifying an association may mean identifying if two people know one another or may involve identifying an array of links between a large group of people within an organized crime group.…
Continue ReadingExecutive Protection with OSINT
Executive protection refers to security and risk mitigation measures taken to guarantee the safety of individuals, particularly those exposed to elevated risk due to their employment, status, or net worth. Executive protection of VIPs previously involved hiring close protection specialists to provide physical security measures. However, in the modern…
Continue ReadingOSINTforGood: The Philanthropic Application of OSINT
Open Source Intelligence, commonly referred to as OSINT, is the collection, collation, and analysis of publicly available information. OSINT is a tradecraft developed in the national security sector that has now expanded through a range of sectors, including law enforcement, journalism, corporate security, academic research, and the legal sector.
Continue ReadingInvestigating Heirs
I remember watching the video a dozen or so times, frustrated by an old photo of an unidentified male appearing for only a fraction of a second. This would turn out to be the “unknown father” listed on both the deceased child’s birth and death certificate. The same father the mother had gone to great lengths in denying any knowledge of their identity…
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