Screen names against sanctions lists
screen_namesFuzzy-screen person and organisation names against OFAC, EU, UK and UN sanctions lists to support KYC/KYB onboarding and counterparty checks.
Instructions
WHAT: Fuzzy-match people or organisation names against the OFAC SDN, OFAC Consolidated (non-SDN), EU, UK and UN sanctions lists, from the official sources (cached in your Apify account for at most 6 h, otherwise re-downloaded; each row reports list publication dates). Order-, case- and diacritics-insensitive; optional country and date-of-birth filters per name. WHEN TO USE: KYC/KYB onboarding, vendor or counterparty checks, bulk re-screening of customer lists. Put all names into one call (lists are downloaded once per run). WHEN NOT TO USE: to see which lists/authorities are covered or to cite sources, call list_sources (free); to see how fresh the cached lists are, list_cache_status (free). Not a PEP or adverse-media check (see LIMITS). COST: paid. Runs Apify Actor fairquery/sanctions-watchlist-screener with your APIFY_TOKEN; pay-per-event "name-screened": $0.003 per name that gets a screening row, match or no match, plus a $0.007 start fee per call (one run); nothing is charged per name if no list could be loaded, and error rows are free. 200 names in one call ~ $0.61. Lists load in ~2-5 s from a cache in your Apify account (at most 6 h old) or ~10-40 s when re-downloaded, then hundreds of names/s. RETURNS: one type="screening" row per name (status potential_match | no_match; matches[] best first, each with list, entry id, score, country_match and dob_match) or free type="error" rows (code, message). EXAMPLE: {"queries":[{"name":"Banco Nacional de Cuba","entityType":"entity"}],"minScore":90} -> one screening row, status potential_match with OFAC_SDN matches. PARAMETERS: names and/or queries: at least one is required although the schema marks both optional (neither -> a free INPUT_EMPTY error row); both may be combined and every entry is billed once, so send all names in ONE call (one start fee and one list load per run). Use names for bare strings and queries when you have per-name country / dateOfBirth / entityType or want your own id echoed. Per query, dateOfBirth drops listed individuals whose recorded birth year differs by more than 1 year (entries without a DOB are kept); country only sets country_match (true/false/null) unless excludeNonMatchingCountry=true, which then drops matches whose listed countries exclude it (entries without country data are kept). entityType: a query's own value wins over the top-level one; "entity" means anything that is not an individual (organisations, vessels, aircraft), and list entries of unknown type always pass. lists: omit for all five; a list whose download fails is reported in lists_unavailable rather than failing the run. minScore: a candidate is returned only if its 0-100 name similarity is >= minScore; it does not change the price - 85 default, 90-95 for large batches with fewer false positives, 75-80 for transliterated names. maxMatchesPerName trims matches[] (best first) but match_count still counts all. LIMITS: Not a certified screening service. Automated fuzzy matching against public lists downloaded at run time; results can contain false positives and miss matches. Review every potential match manually and consult official sources and legal counsel before acting.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| lists | No | Optional, default all five. Any subset of "OFAC_SDN" | "OFAC_CONS" | "EU" | "UK" | "UN" (ids from list_sources). Example: ["OFAC_SDN","EU"] | |
| names | No | Optional if queries is given (at least one of the two is required). Plain person or organisation names (non-empty strings, any order/case/diacritics); billed per name like queries. Example: ["Vladimir Putin","Acme Trading LLC"] | |
| queries | No | Optional if names is given. {name, id?, country?, dateOfBirth?, entityType?} objects with per-name filters; billed per entry like names. Example: [{"name":"Ali Khamenei","id":"cust-42","country":"IR","dateOfBirth":"1939","entityType":"individual"}] | |
| minScore | No | Optional integer 60-100, default 85. Minimum 0-100 fuzzy name-similarity score for a match. Use 90+ for fewer false positives, ~80 for more recall. Example: 90 | |
| entityType | No | Optional, one of "any" | "individual" | "entity", default "any". Entity filter for all names; a query's own entityType wins. Example: "entity" | |
| maxMatchesPerName | No | Optional integer 1-100, default 10. Top matches returned per name (best first); match_count still reports the total. Example: 3 | |
| excludeNonMatchingCountry | No | Optional boolean, default false. true removes matches whose listed countries do not include the query country (entries without country data are kept). No effect without queries[].country. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| count | Yes | Number of rows in items | |
| items | Yes | Dataset rows: type=screening or type=error |