True Match (True Hit)

Screening software compares customer and payment details with watchlists and raises an alert whenever names look alike. Most alerts turn out to be coincidence. An analyst checks further identifiers such as date of birth, nationality, address, passport number or registration details. If these line up, the alert becomes a true match; if they do not, it is closed as a false positive. A true match triggers fixed steps: freezing or blocking assets, rejecting the payment, escalating to the sanctions compliance officer and reporting to the authority where the law requires it. Where evidence is thin, firms sometimes hold the alert as a possible match while asking for more information. The share of alerts that prove to be true matches is often tracked to judge how well the screening is tuned. Reviewers examine this decision closely, since a missed true match is a breach while a wrongly confirmed one freezes an innocent customer.

An insurer's claims system flags a payee company whose name resembles an entity on a sanctions list. The analyst finds the same registered address and the same director's date of birth as on the list entry, confirms a true match, withholds the payment and refers the case to the sanctions compliance officer for reporting.