Here is a Zap that checks every new client against the US Consolidated Screening List, using only a free official API.
What you need
- A free API key from the trade.gov developer portal (subscribe to the Consolidated Screening List API)
- A trigger with the company name: a new HubSpot or Pipedrive company, a form answer, a new row in Google Sheets
The Zap
1. Trigger: New Company (or New Row).
2. Action: Webhooks by Zapier > GET. URL: the CSL search endpoint on data.trade.gov (consolidated_screening_list/v1/search). Query string: name = company name, fuzzy_name = true. Header: subscription-key = your API key.
3. Filter: continue only if "total" is greater than 0.
4. Action: Slack or Gmail message to the person who owns the client, with the matched name, list and source.
Limits to know
- This covers US lists only. For the UK and the EU you need their own files (OFSI consolidated list, EU financial sanctions file).
- Fuzzy matches give false positives: always compare country, address and registration number before acting.
- It runs only when a new client arrives. Clients already in your CRM can become listed later, so schedule a periodic re-check.
Automated option
If you want EU, UK, UN and US lists plus daily re-checks without building it, here is a 37-second demo of an app that does it inside Zapier:
This post has been edited by a moderator to remove a link to self-promotional content as per our Community Code of Conduct.
Does anyone run something similar? I'd like to hear how you handle false positives.
Disclosure: I work at Unicorn Private, the company that makes Unicorn Intelligence. Any tool can make mistakes: the final decision stays with your company.
