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What is Adverse Media?

Adverse media refers to negative information about a person or entity found in public sources, including news articles, court records, regulatory announcements, and investigative reports. It typically covers involvement in:
  • Financial crime (fraud, money laundering, tax evasion)
  • Corruption and bribery
  • Terrorism or terrorism financing
  • Human trafficking or organised crime
  • Regulatory violations or enforcement actions
Adverse media screening is a key part of customer due diligence. It surfaces risk signals that may not appear on formal watchlists, particularly in the early stages of an investigation or where sanctions have not yet been formally applied.

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What Sigma Checks

Sigma scans a broad set of publicly available sources including global and regional news outlets, court records, and regulatory bulletins. Results are categorised by risk type so you can assess the nature and severity of each finding.

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Understanding the Result

Each result includes the source of the media mention, the category of adverse activity, and where available, dates and descriptions of the reported incident. A result is a signal, not a verdict. The same name appearing in adverse media may belong to a different person. Always corroborate using additional identifiers such as date of birth, nationality, or organisation before taking action.

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What to Do with an Adverse Media Result

  1. Confirm the match by verifying the result refers to your customer and not a different person with the same name
  2. Assess the category, as financial crime findings carry higher regulatory weight than minor civil disputes
  3. Apply proportionate action:
    • Moderate risk: apply enhanced monitoring
    • Severe or confirmed risk: consider exiting the relationship
  4. Document your investigation and conclusion for audit purposes

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How to Run an Adverse Media Check

Before running a check, make sure you have a webhook URL configured in your account settings. Sigma sends adverse media results to your webhook endpoint when the check completes.
Set up your webhook URL from the API & Webhook settings page.
There are two ways to run an adverse media check:
  1. Over API Send the name of the person or entity and we return any adverse media findings.
    See our Adverse Media API reference
  2. Sigma Dashboard Search for a person or entity directly from the dashboard.
    Visit Sigma
Need to screen multiple entities at once? See our bulk search feature that handles thousands of names in minutes.