Interpol's Silver Notice traces €36 million in hidden criminal assets

Interpol has introduced a new alert system designed to help member countries trace criminal wealth hidden beyond their own borders, with a pilot run of the tool already yielding significant results.

The "Silver Notice," launched in a trial phase in January 2025, allows law enforcement agencies to alert counterparts worldwide when they are hunting for cash, cryptocurrency, vehicles, property and other assets belonging to a suspected or convicted criminal in their custody. It is the first new notice the Lyon-based organisation has created in at least 20 years, alongside better-known instruments such as the Red Notice used to seek suspects of major crimes.

Nicholas Court, Interpol's director of task force coordination, said countries testing the tool over roughly the past 20 months had located at least €36 million worth of criminal assets. He described the notice as a way for officials pursuing criminal money to tell the rest of the world that a particular person is worth a certain amount and that they want to know where their assets are — whether cars, boats, cash or livestock — so that countries can respond and work together to return the money to where it belongs.

Court pointed to the first Silver Notice ever published, issued in January 2025, which concerned a serious criminal based in Italy. Italian authorities knew the individual was worth a large sum but believed most of the wealth lay outside the country. Within days of the notice being sent to all Interpol member states, Brazil responded, searching its databases and identifying numerous assets registered in the name of the criminal and associates, including property, apartments and livestock. The two countries are now in talks to repatriate the assets from Brazil to Italy.

According to Court, the pilot is paving the way for the tool to become a permanent capability of the organisation, with full adoption by all Interpol members expected to be approved later this year. He said the hope is that the €36 million figure grows substantially over time, helping to take more money away from criminals by assisting countries in finding where illicit wealth has been stashed.