The missing piece of the puzzle? OSINT in public sector counter-fraud strategy

Recent public sector counter-fraud strategies stress the importance of the proactive identification and prevention of fraud. Investment in people, technology and cross-sector collaboration are all key to achieving this – but so is Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). This article explores where and how the public sector can take use of OSINT further, in doing so ensuring the success of its counter-fraud efforts.

Improving outcomes and building public trust

Gaining public trust has taken centre stage in recent, especially in a law enforcement context. Addressing the crimes that are most important to the public is crucial to achieving this goal. As a crime that touches so many of the general public – with its impact ranging from severe distress to life-changing loss of savings – fraud must be top of the list of crimes to address.

OSINT can enhance law enforcement’s capability to respond to public concern over fraud by providing new insights into the identity of fraudsters. Often, internal or privileged data, such as transaction data, may confirm the occurrence of fraud but fail to provide the comprehensive picture needed to identify those responsible in the real world.

Here, OSINT data can play a critical role in identifying perpetrators and understanding the full extent of criminal enterprises. For instance, investigators may start with a name of an individual under suspicion for tax fraud. Social media evidence may reveal that the subject is living beyond their means, while corporate records might show involvement in ostensibly dormant businesses that are, in fact, active. This information may be key to identifying and prosecuting the fraudster in question.

Yet the readily available nature of open source data also poses risks to law enforcement’s ability to maintain public trust. The media and general public are increasingly proactive in investigating criminality. Consequently, if information about a crime is available in publicly available data online, it is often first identified by the public or media. In order to avoid this situation – and therefore undermining public confidence – it is imperative for the public sector to leverage open source data effectively before other actors do.o partner to enhance threat intelligence and response capabilities will continue in 2025.

OSINT at the heart of proactive investigation

Proactive fraud identification is a central theme of national counter-fraud strategy. The Cross-Government Functional Counter-Fraud Strategy released in 2024 emphasises the need to ‘find fraud to fight fraud’ – i.e., to investigate fraud proactively in order to reduce it on a meaningful scale.

OSINT plays a pivotal role in this context. In proactive, intelligence-led investigations, investigators often start with limited information from privileged or internal sources compared to in reactive cases. When less data is immediately available, investigators can use OSINT quickly and cost-effectively to fill in the gaps. Corporate records data, publicly available social media and search engines can be combined to provide a clearer picture of a subject, their network and activities.

The intelligence derived from open sources can be enhanced further when combined with privileged data to create a more comprehensive intelligence picture.

OSINT and asset recovery

Countering serious and organised crime, including fraud, offers dual benefits. Naturally, preventing societal harm is the primary objective. However, when fraud against the state occurs, the public sector can often recover funds for reinvestment in counter-crime measures.

Schemes such as the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) allow for the reinvestment of a proportion of recovered proceeds of crime into law enforcement agencies. Under this scheme, over £200 million was recovered, and £98 million was distributed to POCA agencies last year. Given that the scale of fraud in the UK likely exceeds a billion, there is substantial potential for further recovery.

OSINT is increasingly used by LE to expand its understanding of criminal networks and therefore enhance asset recovery capabilities. Recent examples include:

1. Targeting tax evasion in the e-commerce industry using OSINT. There is growing interest in deploying OSINT to understand and address the scale of e-commerce-related fraud in the UK. Given the online nature of e-commerce, OSINT is essential for comprehending and tackling the issue.
2. Proactive economic crime teams (PECTs) using OSINT to identify broader networks of companies involved in fraud. Investigators have effectively combined open source data with existing privileged intelligence, leading to the discovery of significant additional assets.

Conclusion: OSINT and data recovery

Public sector crime-fighters across the globe are increasingly recognising the value of a multifaceted approach to data. Relying solely on internal data and a limited number of data types or providers is insufficient to keep pace with the rapid adaptation of multi-jurisdictional criminal networks. Law enforcement and agencies require broad and dynamic access to global data to maximise effectiveness.

OSINT has become integral to a flexible and agnostic approach to data acquisition and analysis. The public sector increasingly emphasises maximising the value of open source data, as evidenced by the US IC OSINT Strategy released last year.

Finally, OSINT might be a key part of the puzzle – but its use alone is insufficient. It is most valuable when combined with other rich data accessible to public sector investigators. Data convergence is expected to be critical in the coming years, particularly given the risk of deglobalisation within nation states while international criminal enterprises remain globally orientated. Ensuring access to the broadest relevant data, including reducing reliance on single-source providers, is prudent to mitigating potential future data availability limitations.

The more data that can be shared across organisations safely, the greater the impact on fraud and other serious crime.