25 OSINT Checks Every AML Analyst Should Run: KYC Due Diligence Using Open Source Intelligence for Sanctions, PEPs, and Adverse Media Screening

By Aurel Kestan

The screening tool clears the alert in seconds. When the regulator asks why, it is the analyst's name on the file, not the vendor's.

Sanctions engines, PEP filters, and adverse media feeds run on structured, licensed data - fast, consistent, and blind to everything outside their subscription. This book is the missing second layer: 25 numbered, audit-ready checks that catch what those tools miss, built specifically for KYC and AML screening rather than general investigation.

Unlike broad OSINT guides written for investigators, this book stays inside the constraints a compliance analyst actually works under: regulated data use, footprint control, four-eyes review, and a queue that never pauses. Every check ends in a documented finding, because in this profession, a result that isn't written down did not happen.

What you will learn:

- Run structured sanctions-list checks across OFAC, UN, EU, and HMT consolidated sources
- Verify PEP status and map family and associate networks using open registries
- Execute adverse media searches that separate signal from noise with search operators
- Trace UBO chains through corporate registries and leak databases
- Clear or escalate name-match alerts with documented, audit-ready rationale
- Build a source log and evidence file that survives QC and regulator review
- Screen without leaving a digital footprint that exposes the client relationship
- Grade source reliability and corroborate findings across independent sources
- Detect shell-company red flags from addresses, filings, and web infrastructure
- Assemble the 25 checks into a tiered SDD, CDD, and EDD screening workflow

Each chapter builds one layer of a complete screening stack: identity resolution, sanctions and ownership exposure, PEP networks, adverse media, corporate ownership, shell company red flags, digital infrastructure, and network and crypto checks. The final chapters turn individual findings into a defensible case file and a tiered, repeatable workflow you can run under real queue pressure.

This book is for KYC and AML analysts, onboarding and enhanced due diligence specialists, and financial crime investigators who need a structured open-source workflow they can defend under audit.

Start with Chapter 1 and build the habit one file at a time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HB49TVQM
• ISBN13: 9798188631802
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"