How to Check If You Are on Interpol’s Wanted List

The short answer is: no, not fully. Many people search for “Interpol check online” or try to use an “Interpol search list” expecting a comprehensive, publicly searchable database of wanted persons. This does not exist.

Interpol does publish a limited public database of Red Notices on its website at interpol.int. This database contains a subset of active Red Notices — those that have been made public at the request of the issuing member country. However, a significant number of notices are kept confidential. These confidential notices do not appear in the public database and cannot be found through any online search tool.

This means you could be the subject of a Red Notice that does not appear in any public search — and you may only discover it when you are stopped at a border, refused a visa, or told by a bank that your account is being closed.

Many people are unaware they are the subject of an Interpol Red Notice until a significant life event reveals it. Common discovery scenarios include:

— Being detained or questioned at a border crossing or airport
— Receiving a visa refusal citing “Interpol records”
— A bank refusing to open an account or closing an existing one
— A business partner discovering the notice in a due diligence check
— Receiving information from a third party, such as a lawyer in another country

None of these are good ways to find out. The safest approach if you have any reason to believe a notice may exist — perhaps because you know criminal proceedings have been initiated against you abroad, or because you have been warned by contacts — is to submit a formal access request before the problem escalates.

If you discover — through any means — that you are the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, act immediately. The practical steps are:

1. Do not travel internationally until you have taken legal advice. Every border crossing is a risk.
2. Contact specialist lawyers who understand Interpol procedures. General criminal lawyers are rarely equipped for this work.
3. Instruct a formal CCF complaint to challenge the notice. Your lawyers will assess the grounds — political motivation, human rights violations, commercial dispute characterisation, factual inaccuracies — and prepare a comprehensive submission.
4. Consider national court proceedings in any country where you may be at risk, to obtain injunctive relief or secure bail conditions in advance.
5. Monitor your situation — Red Notices can be re-issued or modified. Ongoing monitoring is important even after removal.

Intercollegium’s specialist team handles all aspects of the above process. We have assisted clients with access requests, CCF removal proceedings, and national court challenges across multiple jurisdictions. Contact our data access request service or Red Notice Removal team today.

Submitting an access request to the CCF is a technical legal process. While individuals can file in person, errors in the submission — wrong forms, missing information, incorrect legal framing — can delay the response or lead to an uninformative reply.

Our team prepares professional CCF access request submissions that maximise the quality and usefulness of the response. If the CCF confirms the existence of a notice, we transition immediately into a removal strategy, having already gathered the relevant background during the access request phase. This integrated approach saves time and ensures no opportunity is lost.