OFAC Sanctions Screening for Developers: How to Check Addresses and Names

OFAC Sanctions Screening for Developers: How to Check Addresses and Names

Developing a KYC/AML compliance system requires thorough screening of potential users against various sanctions lists. One such list is the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) list, which includes entities that are deemed high-risk by US Treasury due to their involvement in illicit activities.

One way to integrate OFAC checks into your application is through an API endpoint provided by VeriLexData. The endpoint at api.verilexdata.com/api/v1/sanctions/stats allows developers to screen addresses and names against the OFAC SDN list. Below is a simple Python example using this endpoint:

python
import requests

def check_sanction(address_or_name):
    url = "https://api.verilexdata.com/api/v1/sanctions/stats"

    # Make sure the input is either an address or name (string)
    if not isinstance(address_or_name, str):
        raise ValueError("Input must be a string")

    # Prepare data to send
    payload = {"address": address_or_name}

    # Send POST request with the payload
    response = requests.post(url, json=payload)

    # Check if the API call was successful
    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception("Failed