OFAC Check: How to Run a Free SDN List Search in Under a Minute

An OFAC check is a search against the U.S. Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list to confirm that a person, company, or vessel isn't subject to U.S. sanctions. The SDN list is published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and updated multiple times per week.

To run a free OFAC check, type the full legal name (or company name) into the search bar at the top of SanctionsScreening. You don't need an account for basic searches. The system runs a fuzzy match against the full SDN list, the OFAC Consolidated Sanctions List, and the EU, UK and UN lists, and returns ranked matches with a confidence score.

Match scores work like this: 1.00 is an exact normalized match; anything above 0.92 is high-confidence and should be treated as a likely hit; 0.80 to 0.92 needs an analyst review; below 0.80 is a 'possible match' that requires corroborating evidence like a date of birth, passport number, or nationality before you can clear or escalate it.

A hit doesn't automatically mean the person you're checking is sanctioned — it means someone with a similar name is. Common names produce many candidates. Use the additional identifiers in the result card (date of birth, place of birth, nationality, ID documents, addresses) to confirm or rule out each candidate.

If a true match is confirmed, U.S. persons must block the transaction or asset and file an Initial Report with OFAC within 10 business days. Document everything: what you searched, what came back, who reviewed it, and how the decision was reached. Regulators care more about a defensible process than about zero false positives.

For higher volumes, batch CSV screening, ongoing monitoring, or API integration, SanctionsScreening Pro and Team plans add unlimited searches, AI risk summaries, and PDF audit reports.