Economic interest, voting control, comparable price and verified certificate coverage answer different questions.
Advanced OSINT practice starts when several plausible observations point in different directions. The task is not to invent the most dramatic explanation. It is to identify which records are independent, what their timestamps mean and what a proposed conclusion would require.
Five progressively harder investigations
Operation Vendor Loop: Circular economic ownership versus control
Declare an ownership model before calculating reciprocal holdings. Solve the simultaneous equations rather than adding paths indefinitely; separately inspect board, proxy and contractual control rights.
A fictional procurement review contains reciprocal stakes. Compute economic interest using the supplied algebra, then distinguish that result from voting rights. Percentages refer to economic rights only.
Investigate the advanced dossier
Operation Tender Drift: Unit economics and procurement-comparison bias
Compare like-for-like deliverable s before ranking offers. Separate taxes, freight, support and quantity; document each adjustment so a suspicious-looking equality can be tested rather than asserted.
Three fictional bids look identical after rounding. Reconcile quantity, tax and service scope before inferring bid coordination. Taxes here are stipulated arithmetic assumptions, not legal advice.
Investigate the advanced dossier
Operation Carbon Copy: Certificate scope and double-counted evidence
Match the certificate type, date, facility and lot to the claim. De duplicate certificate identities and distinguish documented coverage from environmental outcome or intent to mislead.
A fictional seller claims its entire shipment is certified low-impact. A supplier certificate, a transaction certificate and reused IDs have different scopes. Assess only the certificate coverage, not actual environmental performance.
Investigate the advanced dossier
Operation Contract Echo: Intercompany transactions and consolidation
Distinguish group external activity from individual ledgers, and revenue from cash. Consolidation eliminates internal transfers without erasing the external receivable or establishing its collectability.
Fictional entities report impressive sales while trading among themselves. Consolidate the supplied group ledger and identify what remains outside the evidence. No real financial recommendation is intended.
Investigate the expert dossier
Operation Beneficiary Switch: Versioned approvals and transactional authority
Version approvals against the time of action, not just document signing. Separate a documented policy violation from claims of fraud or personal benefit, which require additional evidence.
A fictional supplier database changes bank destination during a board transition. Decide which instruction was valid at payment time and separate authorization failure from beneficial ownership.
Investigate the expert dossier
A reusable evidence worksheet
- Record the observation. Preserve the original wording, identifier, timestamp, source and uncertainty. A quoted claim is not the same as an independently verified event.
- Normalize without overwriting. Add a corrected time or comparable amount beside the original. Write the timezone, clock error, unit conversion and rounding rule so another analyst can reproduce it.
- Trace dependency. Identify copied reports, shared instruments and derived records. Several displays may still represent one originating observation.
- Test the competing explanation. Look for a control, alternative version, ordinary mechanism or missing authority that could produce the same visible result.
- State the boundary. Separate established observations, reasonable inferences and unresolved questions. Name the additional independent record most likely to change the assessment.
How these cases level up your practice
Each dossier contains eight synthetic evidence records and seven graded objectives. The first three investigations in this category are Advanced; the final two are Expert. Difficulty comes from multi-record reconciliation and calculation rather than hidden internet searches or obscure trivia. The brief states the necessary assumptions and answer format. You can keep a narrative analysis in your notes while the engine checks the decisive short answers.
Hints are progressive. Start with the structure hint, use the method hint if you need a way into the problem, and reserve the worked-resolution hint for learning after a genuine attempt. Final-answer reveals are a learning review and do not establish an unassisted investigation result. Published methods here explain the approach without reproducing the seven graded answers.
Frequently asked questions
Are these real incidents?
No. The records, identities, organisations and events are fictional. Where public current guidance is linked, it supplies a topic context rather than authentication of a dossier.
Do I need to contact or scan a real target?
No. The supplied packet contains the evidence needed for the objectives. Do not identify private people, access restricted systems or treat a tabletop route decision as real emergency guidance.
Can an unresolved conclusion be correct?
Yes. A sound investigation can establish a discrepancy while leaving identity, intent or cause unresolved. Report the supported result and the evidence required to go further.