Data sources
Where each indicator's evidence comes from, reviewed in October 2026. Of the 14 indicators, 10 can be scored from public evidence. 4 are not yet sourced and are shown that way rather than estimated.
Approach
Scam compounds are local: a casino strip, an economic zone, a border town. Most data that can be collected automatically is country-level. So location scores are set by analysts applying a fixed rubric to cited evidence. Automated feeds supply country baselines and candidate evidence for review: ACLED conflict-event counts and US and UK sanctions designations. A weekly monitor of news (GDELT) and UN and NGO reports (ReliefWeb) flags new leads for analysts. Nothing is published automatically, and every entry is approved by a second person.
Every score records its sources, as-of date, and confidence. Sources are checked for license terms before use, and data that can't be redistributed is never shown in raw form.
Financial flows can't be scored anywhere yet. Cross-border micro-transactions need aggregate data from bank or financial intelligence unit partners, and shell company density has no reliable public source, so the dimension falls below the half-of-indicators threshold. Its weight is shared among the other dimensions until that data exists.
Indicators
Governance & rule of law
Labor & migration
Financial flows
Digital platform
Protection capacity
Country baselines
Country-level context shown alongside location scores. These are not scored as indicators.
| Source | Used for | Updated | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators | Governance context | Annual | CC BY 4.0 |
| Transparency International CPI | Corruption context | Annual | CC BY 4.0 |
| World Bank income classification | Labor vulnerability context | Annual | CC BY 4.0 |
| US Trafficking in Persons Report | Tier ranking, protection context | Annual | Public domain |
| FATF grey and black lists | AML context | 3× per year | Public |