4WARN Intelligence Brief
A Closer Look at High and Severe OTI Actors – September 2026
4WARN® continuously monitors digital activity across the actors and networks in our intelligence to identify patterns that may increase claims, litigation, fraud, and reputational risk.
This month, we looked more closely at actors with High and Severe Opportunist Threat Index™ (OTI) scores to understand how they operate, how aggressively they compete online for visibility, and what you can learn from their digital strategies.
What is the Opportunist Threat Index?*
4WARN uses the Opportunist Threat Index (OTI) across our intelligence and reporting to determine the overall threat activity and capabilities of individual actors. Each actor receives an OTI score from 0–100 based on factors such as who and what they target, their online reach and domain authority, paid advertising activity, connections to third-party litigation funding (TPLF), and overall AI and digital presence.
Actors are classified as Low, Medium, High, or Severe based on their OTI score. High OTI actors demonstrate significant threat activity and capabilities, while Severe OTI actors represent the highest level based on the factors 4WARN monitors.
What the Data Shows
of Severe OTI actors participate in paid campaigns
average annual paid search spend per Severe OTI actor
of High OTI actors participate in paid campaigns
average annual paid search spend per High OTI actor
NOTE: Data reflects 4WARN observations during the reporting period and may change as digital activity changes over time.
Paid and Organic Search Activity
Despite the millions of dollars High and Severe actors spend on paid search, organic search continues to drive a significant share of their traffic.
High OTI actors generated approximately 119K search-driven clicks during the period analyzed. Organic search accounted for 56% of that traffic, compared with 44% from paid search.
This means organizations do not necessarily have to match multimillion-dollar advertising budgets to compete for visibility. Strong, relevant organic content can help ensure customers and policyholders find accurate information when they search after an accident, loss, or other event.
What High and Severe Actor Activity Means for Your Organization
4WARN tracks the actors, networks, funding relationships, keywords, AI citations, and digital activity behind these trends. Understanding where High and Severe OTI actors are competing for attention, how much they’re spending, and the keywords they are targeting can help you determine where to focus your own content to reach customers and policyholders before opportunists do.
Next Month: Third-Party Litigation Funding
We also found that 16% of High OTI actors are connected to third-party litigation funding. Next month, we’ll take a closer look at these connections and what the data shows about the role TPLF plays in litigation and settlement amounts.
Want to Know Which Actors Are Driving the Greatest Risk?
Contact the 4WARN Customer Service team to review the complete findings and understand which actors may be most relevant to your organization.
*About OTI: The 4WARN Opportunist Threat Index™ (OTI) is an intelligence prioritization index based on observed digital activity and available evidence. It is not a prediction of fraud or loss, or an accusation of wrongdoing.
4WARN® is a registered trademark of 4WARN, Inc. 4WARN Risk Score™ and Opportunist Threat Index™ are trademarks of 4WARN, Inc.