Index of articles

A complete directory of the Fraud-OSINT Wiki. For a single continuous read, see the Full Report. Definitions of terms are collected in the Glossary; sources in References.

Forensic accounting

• Forensic Accounting — the discipline, its history, and its two branches.
• Fraud Triangle — pressure, opportunity, rationalization.
• Fraud Tree — the ACFE occupational-fraud taxonomy.
• Occupational Fraud — scale, detection, and prevention.
• Financial Statement Fraud — cooking the books.
• Red Flags — the warning signs, by category.

Analytical methods

• Analytical Methods — ratio, trend, and data analysis.
• Benford's Law — the leading-digit test.
• Net Worth Method — proving income indirectly.

Following the money

• Money Laundering — placement, layering, integration.
• Asset Tracing — reconstructing the flow of funds.
• Cryptocurrency Tracing — blockchain analytics.
• AML Law — the statutory framework.

Open-source intelligence

• OSINT — the discipline and its uses.
• Intelligence Cycle — from collection to dissemination.
• OSINT Tools — a reference catalog.
• OSINT Disciplines — SOCMINT, GEOINT, HUMINT, IMINT.
• OSINT Ethics — the legal and moral boundaries.

Investigation & the courtroom

• Digital Forensics — imaging, hashing, analysis.
• Chain of Custody — keeping evidence admissible.
• Document Examination — questioned documents.
• Interviewing — investigative interviewing.
• Evidence and Testimony — Daubert, FRE 702, expert witnesses.
• Report Writing — the forensic work product.

Applied domains & cases

• Elder Financial Exploitation
• Human Trafficking Finance
• Anti-Corruption OSINT
• Case Studies — Capone to Celsius.
• Emerging Trends — AI, crypto, and what's next.

Forensic techniques

• Forensic Investigation Planning — engagement methodology from allegation response to reporting, with the fraud theory approach, privilege and Three Lines Model.
• Bank Statement and Cash Analysis — proof of cash, kiting, lapping, check tampering and the expenditures method as step-by-step tests.
• Journal Entry and Ledger Testing — extracting and testing general-ledger entries with SQL, Excel, Python, Benford and sampling.
• Link and Network Analysis — entity resolution, fuzzy matching, link charts and shell-vendor detection.
• Revenue and Earnings Manipulation Tests — Beneish M-Score, Altman Z, cut-off, channel stuffing, bill-and-hold and reserve tests with worked examples.
• Forensic Interviewing and Statement Analysis — cognitive interview, PEACE, SUE, admission-seeking, Upjohn and deception-detection limits.
• Business Valuation and Damages Quantification — DCF, lost-profit and but-for models, discount rates and valuation standards with a worked example.
• Litigation Support and Damages — Expert roles, lost-profits and fraud-loss quantification, tracing rules and prejudgment remedies.
• Hidden Assets in Divorce and Bankruptcy — lifestyle analysis, tracing, fraudulent-transfer law, bankruptcy fraud and trustee techniques.

Fraud schemes and the people behind them

• Ponzi and Investment Fraud — Ponzi, pyramid, affinity and pig-butchering schemes; Madoff and Stanford; tracing, LIBR and clawbacks.
• Procurement and Contract Fraud — Bid rigging, kickbacks, change-order abuse and shell vendors; bid screens and vendor-master analytics.
• Healthcare and Insurance Fraud — Upcoding, AKS and Stark, DOJ takedowns, claims analytics and statistical sampling.
• Payment Fraud and BEC — Business email compromise, wire recall and the Financial Fraud Kill Chain, check fraud, romance, APP and deepfake fraud.
• Tax Fraud and Evasion — criminal tax offenses, indirect proof methods, FBAR/FATCA, employment-tax and refund fraud.
• Public Sector Fraud and Improper Payments — GAO estimates, PPP/EIDL and unemployment fraud, PRAC, Do Not Pay and data-matching techniques.
• Fraudster Psychology and the Dark Triad — perpetrator profile from ACFE data, Dark Triad research, behavioral red flags and the limits of profiling.
• Financial Fraud Case Studies in Detection — eight regulator-documented accounting frauds analysed by red flags, detection route and forensic technique.

Law, controls and enforcement

• Internal Controls and Fraud Risk Assessment — COSO 2013, fraud risk assessment, segregation of duties and control-testing techniques.
• Auditing Standards and Fraud — AU-C 240, PCAOB AS 2401/2110, ISA 240 (Revised), SOX 404 and audit-failure techniques.
• Whistleblowers and the False Claims Act — qui tam, SEC/DOJ programs, retaliation law and tip corroboration.
• Sanctions and Export Controls — OFAC, the 50 percent rules, BIS, evasion typologies and screening methods.
• Shell Companies and Beneficial Ownership — shell and front companies, nominees, registers (US CTA 2026, UK, EU) and how to pierce them.

OSINT methods

• Public Records and Court Dockets — PACER/RECAP, dockets, UCC and lien searches, deed records, EDGAR and FOIA, with examination techniques.
• Corporate Registries and Leak Databases — Companies House, OpenCorporates, Aleph, OpenSanctions, GLEIF and ICIJ Offshore Leaks for ownership tracing.
• Geolocation and Imagery OSINT — Geolocation, shadow chronolocation, reverse image search, EXIF and AI-image caveats.
• Web Archives and Domain Intelligence — Wayback, RDAP, passive DNS, certificate transparency and evidentiary web capture.

Reference & meta

• Glossary
• References
• Full Report (single page)
• About this wiki