Interpol Purple Notice: Criminal Methods and Intelligence

An Interpol Purple Notice provides information about criminal modus operandi — the methods, procedures, objects, devices, and concealment techniques used in the commission of crimes. Purple Notices are intelligence-sharing tools, not enforcement mechanisms. They are directed at law enforcement professionals in all 196 INTERPOL member countries, giving them technical information about how specific crimes are being committed so that they can detect, investigate, and prevent similar activity in their jurisdictions.

Purple Notices cover a wide range of criminal activity: trafficking methods, drug concealment techniques, cybercrime tools, fraud schemes, organised crime operational patterns, and terrorism tactics. The notice describes the method in enough technical detail to be operationally useful to law enforcement — how a specific type of fraud is executed, what physical characteristics distinguish a concealed explosive device, how a particular trafficking network recruits and moves victims. This operational specificity is the defining characteristic of a Purple Notice.

Purple Notices are requested by member countries’ National Central Bureaus and reviewed and issued by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat before circulation. The requesting NCB must provide sufficient technical information about the criminal method to make the notice operationally useful. The General Secretariat applies INTERPOL’s standard compliance review — the notice must relate to a genuine criminal law matter and must comply with INTERPOL’s rules, including the prohibition on politically motivated requests.

Purple Notices may be issued globally to all member countries or, where the threat is geographically concentrated, to specific regional groupings of NCBs. They are restricted to the I-24/7 law enforcement database and are not published publicly, though INTERPOL occasionally publishes summaries of Purple Notices to alert the public to specific scam methods or consumer safety threats.

Most Purple Notices describe methods rather than naming specific individuals. However, in cases where the modus operandi is associated with specific identified actors — for example, a criminal network whose members are known and whose methods are being documented — individuals may be identified in the notice’s content as associated with the criminal methods described. Being named in a Purple Notice does not constitute an arrest request and does not create the immediate enforcement consequences of a Red Notice or Diffusion.

The practical consequence for an identified individual is investigative exposure: law enforcement in all recipient countries are alerted to the association between that individual and the criminal methods described. This can trigger domestic investigations, enhanced monitoring, and — critically — the initiation of separate Red Notice or Diffusion applications as the investigation progresses. Purple Notices frequently precede enforcement notices in cases where an investigation is building.

In complex international criminal investigations, multiple INTERPOL notice types are used in sequence. A Purple Notice may be issued first to document and share intelligence about a criminal method; Red Notices or Diffusions against specific suspects follow as the investigation develops evidence sufficient for arrest. The Purple Notice serves as an investigative support tool; the enforcement notices follow when prosecution-level evidence is assembled.

For individuals who are aware that a Purple Notice involving their activities has been issued, this represents a signal that an investigation is active and that enforcement notices may be forthcoming. Proactive legal engagement — understanding the nature of the allegations, the jurisdictions involved, and the likely investigative trajectory — is strongly preferable to waiting for a Red Notice or Diffusion to be issued. Early legal advice reduces the range of eventual enforcement consequences and maximises the options available.

All data in INTERPOL’s systems is subject to CCF oversight, and Purple Notice data is no exception. Where an individual is incorrectly identified in a Purple Notice — through mistaken identity, inaccurate information, or improper inclusion — a CCF challenge on accuracy grounds is available. The CCF applies the same substantive rules to Purple Notice data as to all other INTERPOL data: accuracy requirements, compliance with INTERPOL’s rules, and respect for human rights standards.

CCF challenges to Purple Notice data are less common than Red Notice challenges, partly because Purple Notices do not create direct enforcement consequences and partly because they are less visible to individuals. Establishing whether a Purple Notice exists requires the CCF data access procedure — the notice does not appear in any public database. The access request is the first step both for individuals who suspect a Purple Notice may exist and for those who want to establish their complete INTERPOL record before taking legal action or travelling.

If you have reason to believe that a Purple Notice involving your activities has been issued, or that you are associated with a criminal method that is the subject of an INTERPOL intelligence-sharing operation, the appropriate first steps are: submitting a CCF data access request to establish what INTERPOL holds about you; engaging legal counsel experienced in international criminal matters and INTERPOL procedures; and assessing the likely investigative trajectory in the relevant jurisdictions. Contact our lawyers for a confidential assessment. See our guidance on the CCF challenge process and on Red Notice defence for the enforcement notice stage that may follow.