Page 11 - IOTA Good Practice Guide

3. Social network analysis

Social network analysis (SNA) is the visualising and studying of relations between people,
organizations, IP addresses, and other connected entities. These entities are displayed as nodes in a
network, where relations between these entities are represented by lines between the nodes. SNA
provides both a visual and a mathematical analysis of relationships. As an example, social network
analysis can be useful for detecting international, fraudulent networks or preventing these to occur.
Basic good practices in SNA
Level: basic
Contact person: Rachel O’Carroll, Ireland
Problem:
Social network analysis is that about social media like Twitter and
Facebook? No, not in this context at least. But then what is social
network analysis and how could it be useful for tax administrations?
Solution:
This presentation from the Irish Tax Administration shows what SNA
actually is. They talk about the possible benefits of SNA, useful tools
for visualising networks (like graph databases), relevant data sources
for creating useful social networks, and how SNA could specifically be
of good use for tax administrations.
Social network analysis for fraud detection
Level: intermediate
Contact person: Carlos Andres, Spain
Problem:
Traditional, case oriented analytical techniques do not allow
tax employees to audit large networks of companies and
people. Or at least the traditional techniques would take a
long time for one particular investigation to pay off. Also,
detecting fraudulent behaviour in a large international
network of companies and people can be rather complex.
Solution:
By building and visualising social networks using open source
tools, the Spanish Tax Administration can now easily derive
information for any network, no matter how large.

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