| name | Shell Company Detector |
| description | Detect shell-company signals from live government registry data — single director, no accounts ever filed, overseas registered-office concentration, no employees, nominee address patterns. Pulls live unmodified registry records and scores the shell-probability. Use this skill when the user asks to "detect shell company", "is this a shell", "AML check", "flag suspicious entity", "money-laundering screening", "sanctions evasion indicator", or is doing compliance / investigation / fraud-research work. |
Shell Company Detector
Score shell-probability from live government registry data — no aggregator "shell flags", the actual raw signals.
Prerequisite: configure the OpenRegistry MCP server
This skill calls OpenRegistry MCP tools (search_companies, get_company_profile, list_filings, fetch_document, etc). Add the server to your AI client config before invoking:
{
"mcpServers": {
"openregistry": { "url": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp" }
}
}
Free anonymous tier, no API key required. Restart your client after adding. If the tool calls below return tool not found, the MCP server isn't wired up — see openregistry.sophymarine.com/docs.
What you get
- Live multi-signal probe of every well-known shell-entity indicator, pulled from the government register at query time.
- Unmodified evidence for every signal: director count, accounts filing history, registered address, employee headcount (from accounts), director multi-company concentration, nominee-address patterns.
- Transparent scoring: a shell-probability score (0-100) with each signal's contribution shown, so a compliance officer can justify or dispute the conclusion.
- Cross-jurisdiction applicable — signals are defined generically; per-jurisdiction availability is surfaced.
Shell signals detected
| # | Signal | Why it matters | Data source |
|---|
| 1 | Single director | Traditional shell indicator — no board oversight | get_officers |
| 2 | Zero filed accounts (after required date) | Dormant / paper entity | list_filings(category=accounts) count |
| 3 | Only micro-entity accounts ever filed | Minimal operational activity | get_company_profile (accounts type) + filing history |
| 4 | Overseas registered office | Cross-border structuring (not necessarily shell but a multiplier) | get_company_profile (address) |
| 5 | Registered-office address shared by 50+ companies | TCSP / nominee address concentration | Reverse-lookup via search_companies({ query: "<address>" }) for registries that support it (IE offers this natively) |
| 6 | Director holds 10+ appointments | Nominee director pattern | get_officer_appointments (GB) |
| 7 | PSC and director are the same natural person | Sole-beneficiary structure | get_persons_with_significant_control cross-reference with get_officers |
| 8 | No employees reported in accounts | Paper entity | XBRL average-number-of-employees (GB iXBRL accounts) |
| 9 | Incorporated <18 months ago + zero filings | Young dormant | get_company_profile inc date + filing count |
| 10 | Name collision with known shell patterns | Often-reused naming (e.g. "Nominees Ltd", number-only names) | Name regex |
Example prompts
Is UK company 14123456 a shell? Run all signals and score it.
Screen this Delaware LLC (we have the name, no ID) for shell-company red flags.
How confident can you be with only a name?
For this list of 20 UK counterparties, flag any with >3 shell signals.
Workflow
Step 1 — Resolve the entity
search_companies + get_company_profile
Step 2 — Signal collection
get_officers({ include_resigned: false }) // Signal 1
list_filings({ category: "accounts", limit: 100 }) // Signal 2, 3
get_company_profile (already have) // Signal 4, 9
get_officer_appointments (for each director, GB) // Signal 6
get_persons_with_significant_control // Signal 7
fetch_document on latest accounts → parse employees // Signal 8
For Signal 5 (shared-address reverse lookup): limited native support — IE CRO supports address search via search_companies(query=<address>); for others, the skill reports "Signal 5 unavailable for jurisdiction X" and advises the user to check the address manually via Companies House or equivalent.
Step 3 — Score
Each signal contributes a weight to a 0-100 shell-probability score:
- Strong signals (1-3): 20 points each
- Multipliers (4-7): 10 points each
- Weak signals (8-10): 5 points each
Cap at 100. Report each contributing signal with its evidence:
Shell probability: 75/100
- ✅ Signal 1 (single director): found 1 officer (John Smith, appointed 2024-01)
- ✅ Signal 2 (zero accounts): incorporated 2023-06, no accounts filed (overdue since 2025-03)
- ✅ Signal 4 (overseas registered office): address in Marshall Islands
- ✅ Signal 6 (nominee director pattern): Smith holds 47 other active appointments (via
get_officer_appointments)
- ❌ Signal 7: no PSC filings at all (insufficient data to check PSC=director match)
- ❌ Signal 8: no accounts → no employee data
- Total: 20+20+10+10 = 60. Adjusting upward for missing-PSC anomaly (+15 = 75)
Step 4 — Cross-link for deeper investigation
If shell-probability > 50, suggest follow-ups:
Provenance & Auditability
Every signal is backed by a specific government record cited inline: the officer roster CURL, the filing history entry, the PSC notification record. A compliance officer reviewing the conclusion can verify every signal at the government source.
Important caveats
- Shell signals ≠ proof of fraud. Many legitimate holding vehicles tick several of these boxes (e.g. a personal investment SPV may be single-director + micro-entity accounts). The score is a screening heuristic, not a verdict.
- Jurisdiction-dependent accuracy: Signal 6 (cross-company director footprint) is reliable on GB (native
get_officer_appointments), partial on FR / TW, unavailable elsewhere. Signal 8 (employee count) requires accounts to be filed and parseable (GB iXBRL, KR XBRL — rest may not be parseable from PDF).
- False negatives: a sophisticated shell with nominee directors rotated regularly, filed accounts showing minimal but non-zero activity, and a non-shared address can score <30. Use the skill as ONE layer in a multi-layer AML pipeline, not the sole check.
You might also need
Why the data stays fresh
Every signal is collected from live get_* / list_filings calls at query time. When a new filing changes the signals (new director appointed, accounts now overdue → no longer "zero filed"), the next run of the skill reflects it within the government's publication cycle. No stale score.
