Service Catalogue // Verification Standards

Services & Transparent Pricing

Every tier below is delivered under the same analytical methodology: lawful open-source collection, independent corroboration where attainable, explicit confidence rating per data point, and a structured dossier you can act on. Prices are published because guessing at cost wastes everybody's time.

METHOD // COLLECTION

Lawful OSINT Frameworks Only

Collection is limited to public records, government and corporate registries, court and property indices, published archives, and publicly accessible digital traces. We do not use pretexting, credential access, surveillance, or any data obtained unlawfully — from us or from a subcontractor.

METHOD // VERIFICATION

Rigorous Verification Standard

A finding is reported as fact only when independently corroborated by a second qualifying source. Single-source findings are reported with an explicit caveat. Pattern-only signals are flagged as leads. Unverified material is excluded from the findings section entirely.

METHOD // ETHICS

Scope & Legality Review First

Before invoicing, we review the stated objective for lawfulness and feasibility. If a matter requires licensed private investigation, falls under FCRA-regulated permissible-purpose rules, or indicates intent to harass or intimidate, we decline and say why.

Pricing Notes

Listed figures are standard engagement rates for a defined scope in a single jurisdiction. Multi-jurisdiction, multi-subject, or archival-depth work is quoted after scoping. Third-party record retrieval fees (court copies, certified documents, registry downloads) are passed through at cost and itemised. Initial scoping review is complimentary — a 20-minute call, no obligation and no card. Nothing is invoiced until you approve a written scope and fee in advance.

About the comparison figures. Each tier lists the typical market rate for comparable desk research, drawn from published 2026 industry rate surveys — not from quotes by any named firm, and not a claim about any specific competitor. We cost less because our overheads are lower: we carry no investigator's licence, run no field operations, and conduct no surveillance. We are not a licensed private investigation firm and these tiers are not a substitute for licensed investigative work — where a matter requires a licensed investigator, we say so and decline. The comparison is offered for desk research that requires no licence at all.

Founding Client Rate — First 10 Engagements

Abyssinian Intel is newly established. Our first ten engagements are taken at the founding rate shown against each tier — roughly 20% below list, applied to every option in that tier including add-ons and extended scopes. The rate is locked for the life of your case: if we are still working your matter after the tenth engagement closes, your price does not move. We are not running a countdown or a fake sale — when ten engagements have closed, list price applies and this notice comes down. What you get in exchange for an early bet on us is the same scope cap, the same written estimate, and the same verification standard as any later client.

Six Operating Tiers

Engagement Catalogue

TIER 01 // REUNIFICATION

Family & Personal Reunification

Locating lost family members, birth relatives, estranged contacts, or long-out-of-touch associates using public historical records and lawfully accessible digital footprints.

Historical address, residency continuity and relocation mapping
Public vital, marriage, obituary and cemetery index research
Archival directories, newspaper archives and genealogical public records
Relative-cluster correlation to establish likely current locality
Discreet contact-approach briefing — we never make contact on your behalf without written instruction

TIER 02 // TENANT VETTING

Residential & Commercial Tenant Vetting

Public-record vetting support for landlords and property managers evaluating prospective residential or commercial tenants.

Identity and stated-history consistency verification
Public eviction and landlord–tenant court filing indicators
Civil judgment, lien and public financial-distress indicators
Address history and residency continuity analysis
For commercial tenants: entity standing, officers, and related-entity mapping

Note: our reports are not consumer reports and may not be used as an FCRA-governed tenant screening report. Use them as supplementary public-record context alongside a compliant screening provider.

TIER 03 // WORKFORCE VETTING

Corporate & Small Business Employee Vetting

Background context and credential verification for hiring managers, partners, contractors and key-position candidates.

Employment and education credential verification against public and issuer-confirmable sources
Professional licence, registration and disciplinary-record checks
Corporate affiliation, directorship and conflict-of-interest mapping
Public reputational and adverse-media review
Open-source professional footprint consistency analysis

Note: not an FCRA consumer report. For employment decisions governed by the FCRA, pair this with a compliant consumer reporting agency and obtain the disclosures and authorisations that law requires.

TIER 04 // PERSONAL DUE DILIGENCE

Relationship & Personal Due Diligence

Comprehensive public-history analysis and asset cross-checking for high-stakes personal decisions — a new partner, a business co-venturer, a caregiver, a significant private transaction.

Identity confirmation and alias / name-variant correlation
Public civil, criminal-index and family-court filing indicators
Marital and cohabitation public-record history
Publicly recorded property, vehicle and business-interest cross-check
Stated-biography consistency analysis against the open-source record

We decline any request where the objective appears to be monitoring, locating, or pressuring a person who has separated from the requester, or where a protective order may be in force.

TIER 05 // FRAUD TRACE

Digital Fraud Recovery & Trace Assistance

Transaction mapping and digital footprint analysis for victims of online fraud, romance scams, investment fraud, and business email compromise — packaged for submission to law enforcement, your bank, or counsel.

Incident reconstruction and chronological loss timeline
Public blockchain transaction mapping and cluster / exchange attribution
Fraudulent persona, domain, and infrastructure footprint analysis
Cross-victim pattern matching against public fraud reporting
Evidence packaging formatted for IC3, bank fraud departments, and counsel

We are an analysis and documentation service. We do not recover funds, contact perpetrators, or guarantee any recovery outcome. Beware of any firm that promises one.

TIER 06 // BESPOKE

Custom OSINT & Bespoke Intelligence

Hourly or project-based open-source intelligence scopes for counsel, journalists, compliance teams, and organisations with requirements that do not fit a standard tier.

Litigation-support research and structured evidence packaging
Asset visibility and entity-network mapping from public filings
Counterparty, sanctions-adjacent and reputational risk screening
Ongoing monitoring retainers against public sources
Analyst consultation, methodology review, and second-opinion analysis

Market Comparison

What the Same Question Costs Elsewhere

Three different things get sold as "a background check", and they are not interchangeable. An automated report is a database query returned in seconds. A licensed investigator can do field work we cannot. We sit in between: human analysis and verification of public records, at desk-research cost.

Typical 2026 market rates vs. our founding rate
What you need	Automated report	Licensed investigator	Abyssinian Intel
Locate a lost relative	$25–49 · database hit, unverified	$300–600	$295 · verified, sourced
Vet a commercial tenant	Not offered for entities	$500–1,500	$295
Check a candidate's claims	$30–95 · FCRA report, required	$200–500	$165 · alongside your FCRA report
Executive / key-position review	$95 · criminal + identity only	$1,500–2,500	$695
Due diligence before a personal commitment	$29–37/mo · self-serve lookups	$500 average	$325
Trace funds after online fraud	Not offered	$800–2,500 · specialist forensics	$595 · evidence pack included
Open-ended research, by the hour	—	$150–250/hr specialist	$95/hr · 3-hour minimum

Where an Automated Report Wins

Speed and price, and it is legally required for FCRA-governed decisions — tenancy, employment, credit, insurance. If that is your decision, buy the compliant report first. Ours adds context beside it; it never replaces it, and we will tell you so rather than take the work.

Where a Licensed Investigator Wins

Surveillance, field interviews, service of process, sworn testimony, and anything a licence is required for. We do none of these and cannot be substituted for them. When your matter needs one, we say so at the scoping call and decline the engagement — before any fee is discussed.

Deliverable Standard

What Every Engagement Includes

Included in all tiers
Component	Description	Format
Executive Summary	Objective, scope boundaries, and the short answer to the question you asked.	1–2 pages
Methodology Statement	Every source category queried, tools used, and any scope limitation encountered.	1 page
Findings & Timeline	Chronological verified data points, each with source, collection date and confidence rating.	Structured tables
Analytical Conclusion	Risk framing, what the evidence supports, what it does not, and recommended next steps.	1–2 pages
Source Appendix	Full citation list with retrieval timestamps for independent verification.	Appendix
Post-Delivery Clarification	One follow-up round to clarify findings, at no additional charge.	Email or call

Retention & Destruction

Case files are retained for 90 days after delivery to support follow-up questions, then securely destroyed unless you request earlier destruction or an extended retention period in writing. Destruction requests: privacy@abyssinianintel.com.

Next Step

Unsure Which Tier Fits?

Describe the objective in plain language on the intake board. We will map it to the correct tier — or tell you it is not something we can lawfully take on.

Open Secure Intake cases@abyssinianintel.com