INTERPOL Launches Silver Notice System; India Targets Assets Of Fraud Accused In Visa, Crypto Scams

INTERPOL has launched the Silver Notice, which enables countries to share alerts and requests for information on assets of wanted criminals worldwide.

Through Silver Notices and Diffusions, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crimes, and other serious offenses. It will facilitate the locating, identifying, and obtaining of information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts, and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including requests for seizure, confiscation, or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.

Currently, the Silver Notice has been launched as part of a pilot phase involving 51 countries and territories, which will run at least until November 2025. As part of the pilot phase, each country can publish up to nine Silver Notices. India has already submitted requests for the publication of Silver Notices in cases being investigated by the CBI, ED, and NCB.

On May 23, 2025, the CBI secured the publication of India’s first-ever Silver Notice against Shokeen Shubham, then Personnel Visas & Local Law Officer at the embassy of a foreign country in New Delhi, for perpetrating a visa fraud. Between September 2019 and May 2022, he conspired with others to facilitate the issuance of Schengen visas by collecting illegal gratification ranging from ₹15 lakh to ₹45 lakh from each applicant. He acquired six immovable properties worth 7,760,500 Dirhams (approximately ₹15.73 crore) in Dubai, UAE, using proceeds of the crime. Earlier, the CBI had also obtained a Blue Notice against him to trace his whereabouts.

On May 26, 2025, the CBI published another Silver Notice against Amit Madanlal Lakhanpal at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Lakhanpal had created a digital/cryptocurrency named MTC, which is not recognized in India, for his personal financial gain. He lured and induced investors, collecting around ₹113.10 crore for investment in MTC without the necessary permissions or licenses from the government or RBI. He failed to return the invested amounts and allegedly impersonated an authorized representative of the Ministry of Finance to further his scheme. A Red Notice had previously been issued against him through INTERPOL. The Silver Notice now aims to identify, locate, obtain, and monitor his assets worldwide.

The publication of these Silver Notices will facilitate the global identification and tracing of assets belonging to these individuals.