Fraud InvestigationLaw EnforcementCrypto 3 min read
How to Report Cryptocurrency Fraud to the FBI
A step-by-step guide to reporting crypto fraud via IC3, compiling evidence, and navigating law enforcement procedures.
Read guideField Notes
Investigation Guides
Practical, non-promotional guides on how investigations are actually run — tracing funds, building evidence that survives challenge, and choosing tooling that fits the problem.
ComplianceExchangesCrypto 3 min read
What Happens When Stolen Crypto Reaches an Exchange?
Understanding the KYC/compliance process, freeze mechanisms, and legal procedures when stolen funds hit a centralized exchange.
Read guideBitcoinTracingForensics 2 min read
Detecting and Tracing Bitcoin Mixers
How investigators identify tumbled Bitcoin using timing analysis, amount correlation, and common mixer patterns.
Read guideComplianceRegulationCrypto 2 min read
OFAC Sanctions and Crypto Compliance
Understanding the OFAC SDN list in crypto, compliance requirements, and the consequences of sanctions violations.
Read guideEthereumTracingForensics 2 min read
Ethereum Transaction Tracing: A Beginner's Guide
How to understand ETH transactions, read Etherscan, and trace ERC-20 tokens through smart contracts.
Read guideFraud InvestigationScamsCrypto 2 min read
Investigating Crypto Romance Scams (Pig Butchering)
Analyzing the pig butchering pattern, typical fund flows, and how to build evidence for law enforcement.
Read guideTRONStablecoinsForensics 2 min read
Investigating TRON and TRC-20 USDT Scams
Why TRON/USDT is the preferred chain for scammers, how to trace TRC-20 tokens, and overcoming specific investigative challenges.
Read guideDeFiSmart ContractsFraud Investigation 2 min read
Investigating DeFi Rug Pulls and Smart Contract Fraud
Technical breakdown of how rug pulls occur, identifying backdoors, and tracing the deployers behind DeFi scams.
Read guideNFTFraud InvestigationCrypto 2 min read
Investigating NFT Fraud and Intellectual Property Theft
Detecting wash trading, tracing stolen NFTs, and understanding marketplace freezing mechanisms.
Read guideAMLComplianceTracing 2 min read
Recognizing Crypto Money Laundering Patterns
An overview of common laundering typologies including peel chains, chain hopping, and nested exchanges.
Read guideBitcoinEducationForensics 2 min read
How to Read a Bitcoin Transaction (For Investigators)
A non-technical explainer of inputs, outputs, fees, and the UTXO model tailored for investigators and lawyers.
Read guideStablecoinsLaw EnforcementRegulation 2 min read
Understanding Stablecoin Freeze Powers (USDT & USDC)
How Tether and Circle freeze assets, the legal requirements for requests, and success rates for investigators.
Read guideDeFiTracingForensics 2 min read
Investigative Approaches to Cross-Chain Bridge Tracing
How bridges complicate tracing, analyzing lock-and-mint mechanisms, and tracking funds across multiple blockchains.
Read guideOSINTDomain IntelligenceFraud 3 min read
How to Investigate a Suspicious Website: Domain OSINT Guide
Learn step-by-step techniques for investigating scam websites, from WHOIS and DNS records to hosting history and registration patterns.
Read guideOSINTTechniquesSocial Media 3 min read
Username OSINT: Finding Accounts Across the Internet
A comprehensive guide to username OSINT, including tools, methodologies for dealing with false positives, and pivoting techniques.
Read guideOSINTTechniquesIdentity 3 min read
Email OSINT: What an Address Reveals About a Target
Learn how to extract maximum intelligence from an email address through breach data, registration checks, and profile linkage.
Read guideSecurityPrivacyPersonal OSINT 3 min read
How to Check and Monitor Your Data Breach Exposure
A practical guide on how to check if your personal data has been exposed in breaches, understand the risks, and establish ongoing monitoring.
Read guideOSINTNetworkTechniques 3 min read
IP Address OSINT: What You Can and Cannot Learn
A realistic guide to investigating IP addresses, covering geolocation, ASN data, open ports, and the limitations of IP intelligence.
Read guideOSINTIdentityTechniques 3 min read
Phone Number OSINT: Techniques and Legal Boundaries
Explore how investigators leverage phone numbers to uncover identities through carrier lookups, messaging apps, and public records.
Read guideOSINTSocial MediaTechniques 3 min read
Social Media OSINT: Mapping Connections and Extracting Data
Learn advanced techniques for investigating social media profiles, from timeline analysis to mapping hidden connections across platforms.
Read guideOSINTNetworkInfrastructure 3 min read
Certificate Transparency Logs: An Underused OSINT Goldmine
Discover how to use Certificate Transparency (CT) logs to uncover hidden subdomains, track infrastructure, and expose malicious network setups.
Read guideOSINTSearchTechniques 3 min read
Google Dorking for Investigators: Advanced Search Operators
Master the art of Google Dorking. Learn how to use advanced search operators to find exposed files, hidden directories, and leaked data.
Read guideSecurityCorporate OSINTGuide 3 min read
OSINT Attack Surface Assessment for Small Businesses
A practical checklist for assessing a small business's external attack surface using open-source intelligence techniques.
Read guideOSINTJournalismVerification 2 min read
OSINT for Journalists: Verifying Sources and Fact-Checking
Explore how investigative journalists utilize open-source intelligence to authenticate documents, geolocate media, and verify whistleblower claims.
Read guideOSINTPhysicalTechniques 3 min read
Vehicle OSINT: Investigating License Plates and VINs
Understand the methods and strict legal boundaries of investigating vehicles using open-source data, license plates, and VIN records.
Read guideSecurityDark WebThreat Intel 3 min read
Dark Web Monitoring: Separating Reality from Marketing Hype
A realistic look at dark web monitoring. Understand what it actually does, its limitations, and when it is genuinely useful for threat intelligence.
Read guideDue DiligenceOSINT 2 min read
How OSINT Fits into Due Diligence and Screening
A practical guide to using OSINT for vendor screening, business partner checks, and M&A research while properly documenting findings.
Read guideComplianceSanctions 2 min read
Sanctions Screening 101: Navigating PEPs and SDNs
Understand the fundamentals of sanctions screening, PEPs, SDN lists, and why robust automated approaches are critical for modern crypto businesses.
Read guideLegalEvidence 1 min read
Digital Evidence Preservation: Moving Beyond Screenshots
Why standard screenshots fail as evidence and how to properly preserve digital artifacts using hashing, archiving, and strict chain of custody protocols.
Read guideCompliancePrivacy 1 min read
Navigating GDPR in OSINT Investigations
A practitioner's guide to balancing OSINT investigative necessities with GDPR requirements, covering legitimate interest, data minimization, and practical compliance.
Read guideComplianceCrypto 1 min read
The FATF Travel Rule: Implications for Crypto Investigations
Understanding the FATF Travel Rule for crypto, VASP requirements, global implementation status, and what it means for financial investigations.
Read guideComplianceCrypto 1 min read
How KYC and AML Work at Crypto Exchanges
An overview of exchange KYC/AML processes, what information exchanges hold, and how investigators can effectively work with compliance teams.
Read guideBest PracticesOSINT 1 min read
Writing Actionable OSINT Investigation Reports
Learn how to structure OSINT reports, present evidence effectively, label confidence levels, and document methodology for stakeholders.
Read guideSecurityOSINT 1 min read
Using OSINT for Insider Threat Investigations
How to safely apply OSINT techniques to investigate insider threats using public data while respecting legal and organizational boundaries.
Read guideDue DiligenceFraud 1 min read
The Corporate Fraud Investigation Checklist
A practical OSINT checklist for corporate fraud investigations, focusing on beneficial ownership, shell companies, and related-party transactions.
Read guideRegulationCrypto 1 min read
The Global Cryptocurrency Regulatory Landscape in 2026
A concise overview of current global crypto regulations across the US, EU, UK, and APAC, and what they mean for financial investigators.
Read guideToolsIndustry 1 min read
Open-Source vs. Proprietary Investigation Tools
An honest comparison of free open-source tools versus paid proprietary platforms, exploring the real cost of free software and hybrid approaches.
Read guideDue DiligenceSecurity 1 min read
OSINT for Supply Chain Risk Assessment
How to leverage OSINT to assess supply chain risks, monitor vendor exposure, check sanctions compliance, and track geopolitical events.
Read guideLegalCompliance 1 min read
Whistleblower Investigations: Protecting Sources with OSINT
How OSINT intersects with whistleblower investigations, verifying claims safely, protecting source anonymity, and navigating legal frameworks.
Read guideWeb3BlockchainIdentity 2 min read
How to Investigate Web3 Identities: ENS, Lens, and Farcaster
A practitioner's guide to resolving decentralized identities and connecting on-chain footprints to real-world entities.
Read guideOSINT ToolsMethodologyTradecraft 2 min read
The Complete OSINT Tool Stack for 2026
A realistic look at the tools OSINT professionals are actually using in 2026, balancing capability with cost and complexity.
Read guideCareersBlockchainEducation 2 min read
How to Build a Career in Blockchain Forensics
A practical guide to the skills, certifications, and experience needed to break into cryptocurrency investigations and blockchain forensics.
Read guideAIOSINTAutomation 2 min read
The Role of AI in Modern OSINT Investigations
Examining how artificial intelligence and large language models are transforming open-source intelligence, along with the risks of AI hallucinations.
Read guideThreat IntelOSINTConcepts 2 min read
Threat Intelligence vs. OSINT: Understanding the Overlap
Clarifying the definitions, methodologies, and overlap between Open Source Intelligence and Cyber Threat Intelligence.
Read guideCase StudyBlockchainFraud 2 min read
Case Study: Investigating a Pig Butchering Syndicate
An anonymized walkthrough of a complex cryptocurrency investigation tracking funds from a pig butchering scam to an offshore exchange.
Read guideRansomwareBlockchainTracing 2 min read
Tracing Ransomware Payments: A Tactical Overview
How investigators track ransomware affiliate payments, analyze mixing services, and coordinate with law enforcement to disrupt operations.
Read guideEthicsPrivacyLegal 2 min read
The Ethics of OSINT: Balancing Investigation and Privacy
Exploring the ethical considerations and privacy implications of modern open-source intelligence gathering.
Read guideDisinformationPoliticsOSINT 2 min read
Detecting Election Disinformation with OSINT
How analysts use open-source techniques to identify bot networks, trace coordinated inauthentic behavior, and verify sources during elections.
Read guideGeolocationImageryTechniques 2 min read
Advanced Image Geolocation Techniques
A deep dive into the techniques used to determine exactly where a photograph was taken using open-source data and visual analysis.
Read guideCorporateBusinessStrategy 2 min read
OSINT for Corporate Intelligence and Competitive Analysis
How modern businesses use open-source intelligence to monitor competitors, analyze market trends, and conduct due diligence.
Read guideRecoveryBlockchainLegal 2 min read
The Reality of Cryptocurrency Asset Recovery
A realistic look at the pipeline for recovering stolen crypto assets, from initial tracing to legal action and exchange cooperation.
Read guideMethodologyManagementOperations 2 min read
How to Build an OSINT Investigation Playbook
Standardizing your intelligence operations by creating robust playbooks, defining workflows, and ensuring quality control.
Read guideCryptoFraud Investigation 9 min read
How to Trace Stolen Cryptocurrency: A Practical Guide
A step-by-step method for tracing stolen crypto — from the receiving address to the exchange where it can actually be frozen, and what evidence you need for law enforcement.
Read guideEvidenceLegal 8 min read
OSINT Evidence That Holds Up in Court
Why screenshots fail as evidence, what chain of custody actually requires for open-source intelligence, and how to document an investigation so it survives challenge.
Read guideToolingBuying Guide 7 min read
Free vs Paid OSINT Tools: What You Actually Get
An honest breakdown of where free OSINT tooling is genuinely enough, where paid platforms earn their price, and how to tell which problem you actually have.
Read guide