README

🔍 AI Fraud Investigation Agent

An AI-powered autonomous fraud investigation agent that cross-references childcare provider licensing records against physical building data to detect anomalies. The agent uses public data — Cook County property records, Illinois DCFS licensing, Google Maps, and the Secretary of State — to find facilities where the physical evidence doesn't match the paperwork.

Features

• Searches Illinois DCFS licensing database for providers by ZIP code
• Cross-references licensed capacity against actual building square footage from Cook County GIS records
• Applies IL building code math to calculate maximum legal childcare occupancy
• Analyzes Google Street View imagery to verify a facility looks like a real childcare center
• Checks Google Places for business status, rating, and whether the address shows a different business entirely
• Verifies business entity registration with the Illinois Secretary of State
• Discovers cross-provider patterns: shared owners, address clusters, entities with no public footprint
• Narrates its full investigation in real time — reasoning is visible as the agent works

How to get Started?

1. Clone the GitHub repository

git clone https://github.com/Shubhamsaboo/awesome-llm-apps.git
cd advanced_ai_agents/single_agent_apps/ai_fraud_investigation_agent

2. Install the required dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Get your OpenRouter API Key

• Sign up at openrouter.ai and create an API key
• The free tier is sufficient for demo investigations
• Default model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6

4. Get your Google Maps API Key (optional — skips visual analysis if omitted)

• Create a project at console.cloud.google.com
• Enable: Geocoding API, Places API, Street View Static API
• Create an API key and restrict it to these three APIs

5. Run the Streamlit App

streamlit run fraud_investigation_agent.py

How it Works?

The AI Fraud Investigation Agent uses 7 specialized tools, all powered by public data sources:

• Provider Search — Queries the Illinois DCFS licensing portal for all active providers in a ZIP code, returning capacity, license type, and license status

• Property Analysis — Pulls building square footage, lot size, property class, and year built from the Cook County Assessor's open data (Socrata API, no auth required)

• Capacity Calculation — Applies Illinois DCFS Part 407 building code math: (building_sqft × 0.65) ÷ 35 = max legal children. A 900 sq ft building cannot legally serve 50 children — this is a mathematical impossibility, not an opinion

• Street View — Captures four-directional Google Street View images to check whether the address looks like a real childcare facility or something else entirely

• Places Info — Queries Google Places for the current business listed at the address, its operating status, rating, and recent reviews

• Business Registration — Probes the Illinois Secretary of State to verify the provider is a registered legal entity

• Geocoding — Converts addresses to coordinates for spatial analysis

The agent investigates each provider in the ZIP code, narrating its reasoning as it works. When it notices something suspicious — a building too small for its license, a closed storefront claiming to run childcare, a name appearing across multiple providers — it follows that thread and explains why it matters.

What the Agent Can (and Cannot) Detect

Can detect:

• Licensed capacity physically impossible for the building size
• Addresses where Google shows a different business or a closed/vacant building
• Providers with no Google listing, no reviews, no business registration
• Shared owner names or agents appearing across multiple providers

Cannot detect:

• Attendance fraud (billing for children who didn't show up) — requires non-public CCAP billing records
• Any fraud requiring access to internal DHS or county billing data

All findings are investigative leads, not legal conclusions. The agent uses language like "requires further investigation" and "exhibits anomalies" — never "fraud."

Geographic Scope

This demo covers Cook County, Illinois only. Property data is sourced from the Cook County Assessor's open data, so the ZIP code selector is limited to 10 high-density Chicago neighborhoods known for concentrations of subsidized childcare providers:

ZIP	Neighborhood
60623	Little Village / North Lawndale
60629	Chicago Lawn
60644	Austin
60621	Englewood
60628	Roseland
60619	Chatham / Auburn Gresham
60636	West Englewood
60612	Near West Side
60620	Auburn Gresham
60624	Garfield Park

The full Surelock Homes system supports Minnesota and additional Illinois counties with a FastAPI backend, streaming dashboard, and offl