OFAC Sanctions Screener - Compliance Check

Screen companies, individuals, vessels, and addresses against the US Treasury OFAC SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) sanctions list in seconds. Get structured match results with confidence scores, risk levels, and detailed entity data — no enterprise contracts needed.

What does OFAC Sanctions Screener do?

This actor downloads the official OFAC SDN list (updated daily by the US Treasury, 18,000+ sanctioned entities), then fuzzy-matches your queries against every sanctioned name, alias, and variation. It returns structured JSON results with confidence scores, risk levels, and full entity details — ready for compliance workflows, AI agent pipelines, or manual review.

What data does it extract?

For each entity you screen, you get:

• queryName — the entity name you searched for
• matchedName — the sanctioned entity name from the OFAC SDN list
• matchConfidence — similarity score (0-100), higher = more confident match
• riskLevel — CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, or CLEAR
• sanctionsList — which list matched (OFAC SDN, OpenSanctions, etc.)
• entityType — individual, entity, vessel, or aircraft
• programs — sanctions programs (e.g., IRAN, SDGT, RUSSIA-EO14024)
• aliases — known alternative names (AKAs)
• addresses — registered addresses (city, country)
• ids — passport numbers, tax IDs, registration numbers
• dateOfBirth — for individuals
• vesselInfo — call sign, flag, tonnage (for vessels)
• remarks — additional OFAC notes
• sdnListDate — when the SDN list was published
• screenedAt — timestamp of the screening

Use cases

1. Import/Export Compliance — Screen suppliers, buyers, and freight forwarders before every shipment. OFAC penalties can reach $20 million per violation.
2. KYC/AML Onboarding — Banks, fintech, and payment processors can screen customers during onboarding. Batch-screen hundreds of entities in one run.
3. Due Diligence — Verify business partners, investors, or acquisition targets against sanctions lists before signing contracts.
4. Supply Chain Risk Management — Monitor your entire supplier network for sanctions exposure. Run weekly or daily to catch new designations.
5. AI Agent Compliance Workflows — Integrate via the Apify MCP server so AI agents (Claude, GPT, CrewAI, LangChain) can automatically screen entities as part of automated compliance pipelines.
6. Investor Screening — Check portfolio companies and their officers against OFAC, especially relevant during the 2026 Iran-US conflict with daily new designations.

How to use

1. Enter entity names to screen in the Entities to Screen field (company names, person names, vessel names)
2. Set the Match Confidence Threshold (70%+ recommended for compliance, 60% for broader searches)
3. Optionally filter by Entity Type (individual, company, vessel, aircraft)
4. Optionally enable International Sanctions to also check EU, UN, and UK lists via OpenSanctions
5. Click Start — results appear in the dataset within seconds

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
queries	string[]	Yes	—	List of entity names to screen against sanctions lists
matchThreshold	integer	No	70	Minimum match confidence (0-100). 70+ recommended
entityType	string	No	all	Filter: all, individual, entity, vessel, aircraft
includeOpenSanctions	boolean	No	false	Also check EU, UN, UK sanctions via OpenSanctions API
maxMatchesPerQuery	integer	No	5	Max matching entries returned per query
includeAliases	boolean	No	true	Also match against known aliases (AKAs)

Output example

Match found (sanctioned entity)

{
    "queryName": "Bank Melli Iran",
    "matchedName": "BANK MELLI IRAN",
    "matchConfidence": 100,
    "sanctionsList": "OFAC SDN",
    "entityType": "entity",
    "sdnUid": 25578,
    "programs": ["IFSR", "IRAN", "SDGT"],
    "aliases": ["BANK MELLI", "MELLI BANK", "NATIONAL BANK OF IRAN", "BMI"],
    "addresses": [{"city": "Tehran", "country": "Iran"}],
    "riskLevel": "CRITICAL",
    "sdnListDate": "03/09/2026",
    "screenedAt": "2026-03-11T12:00:00.000Z",
    "source": "US Treasury OFAC SDN List"
}

No match (clear entity)

{
    "queryName": "Apple Inc",
    "matchedName": null,
    "matchConfidence": 0,
    "riskLevel": "CLEAR",
    "result": "NO_MATCH",
    "message": "No sanctions matches found for \"Apple Inc\" above 70% confidence threshold.",
    "source": "US Treasury OFAC SDN List"
}

Pricing

This actor uses Pay Per Event pricing:

• Start event: $0.005 per run
• Per entity screened: $0.01 per entity

Screen 100 entities for $1.00. No monthly fees, no contracts, no minimums. Enterprise sanctions screening tools charge $5,000 - $100,000+/year — this does the same job at a fraction of the cost.

How it works (technical details)

1. Downloads the OFAC SDN XML file from the US Treasury (refreshed daily, ~15MB)
2. Parses all 18,000+ sanctioned entries including names, aliases, addresses, and IDs
3. Builds a fuzzy search index using Fuse.js for fast approximate matching
4. Strips common business suffixes (Inc, LLC, Corp, etc.) to prevent false positives
5. Computes confidence scores using Dice coefficient + Fuse.js ranking
6. Caches the parsed SDN list for 24 hours to speed up repeated runs
7. Optionally queries the OpenSanctions API for international sanctions

FAQ

Q: How current is the sanctions data? A: The OFAC SDN list is downloaded fresh from the US Treasury every 24 hours. The SDN list itself is updated by OFAC multiple times per week, especially during active sanctions campaigns.

Q: Can I screen hundreds of entities at once? A: Yes. Pass an array of names and they'll all be screened against the same cached SDN list. Efficient for batch compliance checks.

Q: What about false positives? A: The matching algorithm strips common business words (Inc, LLC, Corporation, etc.) before comparing names, which dramatically reduces false positives. Set the threshold to 80+ for high-precision screening, or 60 for broader searches.

Q: Is this a substitute for professional compliance tools? A: This tool is for informational purposes. It uses the same official OFAC data as enterprise tools, but always verify critical findings with a compliance professional. Non-compliance penalties can reach $20 million per violation.

Q: Does it work with AI agents? A: Yes. This actor is compatible with the Apify MCP Server, so AI agents (Claude, GPT, CrewAI, LangChain) can discover and run it automatically as part of compliance workflows.

Data sources

• OFAC SDN List: Official US Treasury Specially Designated Nationals list — treasury.gov/ofac/downloads/sdn.xml
• OpenSanctions (optional): Aggregated international sanctions from EU, UN, UK, and 40+ jurisdictions — opensanctions.org

Support

Found a bug or have a feature request? Reach out on the Apify platform or open an issue.