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Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) now plays a vital role in financial crime investigations, enabling corporate security professionals to uncover hidden risks, map suspicious networks, and respond proactively to emerging threats.
While many in the industry are adept at using OSINT for surface-level threat monitoring, there’s untapped potential—especially when it comes to leveraging deeper layers of the web and specialized investigative platforms.
Let’s break down how OSINT tools are transforming financial crime investigations and compare some of the leading solutions on the market today.
Why OSINT Matters in Financial Crime
Financial institutions face mounting regulatory scrutiny and significant financial penalties for failing to detect money laundering, fraud, and terrorist financing, and OSINT enables teams to go beyond “tick-box” compliance, providing real-world context to customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and proactive threat detection. The risk of not having practical tools such as OSINT technology in your financial crime detection arsenal could be stiff fines and damage to your brand reputation.
Data shows that between 2008 and 2018, banks paid over $26 billion in fines for anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance failures. More recent data shows that in 2024, global financial penalties for AML and related compliance failures reached $4.6 billion, with North America accounting for 95% of this total. U.S. regulators alone issued over $4.3 billion in fines, with banks receiving $3.52 billion of these penalties. The most notable case was TD Bank, which agreed to pay a record $3.1 billion in penalties for systemic AML failures, including $1.8 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice and $1.3 billion to the U.S. Treasury.
Key OSINT applications in financial crime include:
Comparing Leading OSINT Tools for Financial Crime
With a crowded field of OSINT tools, choosing the right platform depends on your investigative needs, technical expertise, and risk appetite. Here’s a comparative look at some of the top OSINT tools for financial crime investigations:
Videris
Strengths: Holistic investigations, network analysis, visualization
Ideal Use Case: AML/AFC, SAR support, complex cases
Notable Features: Multi-source integration, audit trails, visualization, collaboration
Dark/Deep Web Access: Limited
Limitations: Steep learning curve for non-technical users
Intelligence X
Strengths: Deep web, data leaks, historical archives
Ideal Use Case: Dark web monitoring, breach tracking
Notable Features: Darknet search, historical data, alerts
Dark/Deep Web Access:Yes
Limitations: Lacks built-in visualization/analytics tools
Liferaft
Strengths: Real-time monitoring, broad coverage, geospatial intelligence, identity resolution
Ideal Use Case: Threat detection, AML, brand protection, deep/dark web monitoring
Notable Features: Automated alerts, customizable dashboards, geolocation, dark web crawling, case management, collaboration tools
Dark/Deep Web Access: Yes
Limitations: Fewer third-party integrations
SEON
Strengths: Digital footprint, fraud detection
Ideal Use Case: Fraud prevention, onboarding
Notable Features: Device fingerprinting, social checks
Dark/Deep Web Access: No
Limitations: Limited utility for complex network analysis
Paliscope
Strengths: Evidence collection, legal chain of custody
Ideal Use Case: Legal investigations, compliance
Notable Features: AI entity recognition, reporting
Dark/Deep Web Access: No
Limitations: Focused on evidence preservation over real-time monitoring
Neotas
Strengths: Enhanced due diligence, adverse media
Ideal Use Case: KYC, onboarding, risk management
Notable Features: AI-driven, corporate records, media checks
Dark/Deep Web Access: No
Limitations: Lacks real-time threat monitoring capabilities
Highlights & Use Cases
Videris is designed for financial institutions needing a single platform to collect, analyze, and visualize OSINT data. Its strength lies in enabling both reactive (case-by-case) and proactive (thematic or typology-driven) investigations, with robust auditability for compliance.
Intelligence X is particularly valuable for teams willing to venture into the deep and dark web. They can monitor data leaks, track cryptocurrency movements, and uncover connections that are invisible on the surface web.
Liferaft is especially valuable for financial crime teams looking to move beyond surface-level OSINT, tap into hidden risk areas, and respond faster to emerging threats, all the while coupling these findings with social media listening and threat monitoring. Moreover, its identity resolution and investigative features help to map and link threat actors, indicating if your financial crime is the action of an individual or a network of concern. Liferaft also comes with incident and case management tooling, which is necessary if litigation or regulatory mandates are involved.
Paliscope focuses on evidence preservation, ensuring that findings are legally defensible—a must for investigations that may lead to prosecution or regulatory reporting.
The Case for Deep & Dark Web OSINT
Most corporate security teams stick to the surface web—news, social media, and public records. But the deep and dark web holds a treasure trove of intelligence: data breaches, criminal forums, and trade in stolen financial information. Tools like Videris, Intelligence X, and Liferaft make these layers accessible, albeit with necessary caution regarding legality and operational security.
While these investigations require specialized skills and risk management, the payoff is early detection of threats that could otherwise blindside your institution.
5 Best Practices for OSINT-Driven Financial Crime Investigations
The Wrap Up
OSINT tools have evolved from basic search engines to sophisticated platforms capable of mapping complex financial crime networks and uncovering risks hidden deep within the web. For corporate security professionals, the right blend of tools, tailored to your risk profile and investigative needs, can mean the difference between catching a threat early and facing costly fallout.
Now’s the time to explore the full potential of OSINT, including the deep and dark web, for a more resilient and proactive defense against financial crime.