Combining Digital Footprint Data and Public Records: Fentanyl Uncovered

The global fentanyl crisis poses a grave threat to public health and national security. Its production and distribution pipeline is complex and involves a myriad of actors: chemical suppliers in places like China and India, brokers who connect criminal groups to chemical suppliers, and Mexican transnational criminal organizations that leverage their logistical infrastructure to get large quantities of fentanyl to market. However, the illicit supply chains that feed precursor chemicals and pill manufacturing equipment often leave a corporate and digital footprint on the open web that can be exploited by investigators.