Free OFAC search tool

An OFAC check is the process of screening a name, entity, or identifier against US Treasury sanctions lists to verify whether they are subject to US sanctions restrictions. It is a legal compliance requirement for any business processing USD transactions or operating within the US financial system. This process is also referred to as sanctions screening, and under strict liability, a single prohibited transaction can trigger a civil penalty of up to $377,700 per violation. The purpose is to detect sanctioned parties before a transaction is processed, not after. Screening is required at onboarding, at the point of payment, and continuously as OFAC updates its lists.

To perform an OFAC check, enter a name, entity, or identifier, select the subject type, and run the search. The tool checks your input against OFAC sanctions lists using a proprietary fuzzy matching algorithm to identify potential matches and aliases.

An OFAC check is required at three points: before onboarding a new customer or counterparty, at the point of payment or transaction, and continuously as OFAC updates its sanctions lists. A party who was clean at onboarding can be designated the next day. Under strict liability, every transaction with a sanctioned party is a violation regardless of when the designation occurred. For businesses processing USD transactions, automated continuous monitoring is the only reliable way to close that gap.

You can search individuals, companies and other legal entities, vessels, aircraft, and crypto wallets to identify potential matches on OFAC sanctions lists.

The tool searches all OFAC sanctions lists published by the US Department of the Treasury: the SDN List and the Consolidated Sanctions List, which includes the FSE List, SSI List, NS-MBS List, NS-PLC List, CAPTA List, and NS-CMIC List. Together these cover over 17,000 SDN entries and approximately 1,920 non-SDN entries.

Any business processing USD transactions, serving US customers, or routing payments through US correspondent banks must comply with OFAC sanctions. This includes banks, fintechs, payment processors, crypto exchanges, importers, exporters, and any non-US company with US financial exposure. There is no minimum transaction size and no industry exemption.

Yes, you can search crypto wallet addresses across major blockchain networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron. These addresses are published in OFAC sanctions lists as identifiers associated with sanctioned individuals and entities.

Yes, this OFAC search tool is free for manual use. You can search names and identifiers directly in the browser without an API or paid plan. For automated checks at scale, SanctionsLookup offers a paid API.

Sanctions data is synced every 15 minutes. OFAC updates its lists without a fixed schedule, sometimes multiple times a day. Every search runs against the most current designations available.

Yes, this tool can be used as part of AML, KYC, and KYB compliance workflows by screening individuals and entities against sanctions lists. It helps identify potential matches, but you are responsible for reviewing results, handling false positives, and making final compliance decisions.

The tool returns match details including the entry name, aliases, sanctions program, and list source. Review the result against the full SDN entry, name, date of birth, nationality, and unique identifiers, to determine whether it is a true hit or a false positive. Over 95% of matches are false positives. If confirmed as a true hit, block the transaction, freeze associated assets, and report to OFAC within 10 business days.

Yes. OFAC sanctions are the legal restrictions themselves: the designations, prohibitions, and programs administered by the US Department of the Treasury. An OFAC check is the screening process used to detect whether a party is subject to those sanctions before a transaction is processed. The sanction is the rule. The OFAC check is how you comply with it.

This OFAC search tool is built for manual, on-demand checks. For automated screening at onboarding, transaction processing, or continuous monitoring, the SanctionsLookup API handles it programmatically. It uses the same data, same matching logic, at any scale. Start with 100 free API calls, no credit card required.