Trust
Why we may decline a case
We do not take on everything. This page exists so that you know in advance where the boundary runs and do not spend time on a conversation that will end in a refusal.
We state refusals directly and with a reason. A polite «we will be in touch» instead of an honest «we do not do this» costs a person weeks of waiting in a situation where weeks matter.
Unlawful tasks
Requests to help conceal an identity, obtain documents outside the law, influence a decision informally, or prepare false information for an agency or a court. This refusal is not negotiable and does not depend on the fee. We separately decline to help anyone who wants to use INTERPOL's mechanisms against another person without lawful grounds — persecution through Red Notices runs both ways.
Expecting a guarantee
If someone is looking not for analysis but for a promise of a specific outcome by a specific date, we are the wrong provider. Such a promise can only be made by lying, and the moment when the truth has to be told arrives anyway — usually at the worst possible time.
Tasks outside our competence
Some questions have one right answer: «that is for a different specialist». A purely domestic criminal case, a family dispute, a migration procedure unconnected to any alert. We do not take adjacent work simply because someone wrote to us. In those cases we try at least to explain who to look for.
No basic information
Sometimes a proper assessment is impossible until a person is willing to name the country, the nature of the accusation and the rough timeline. We do not push, and we understand the caution — but nor do we pretend we can assess a situation from the single word «INTERPOL». We say plainly that there will be no assessment rather than passing generalities off as analysis.
Conflict of interest
If we already act for a side of the same conflict, the case is not taken. The conflict check happens before work starts, not after.
Situations where we would do harm
Sometimes intervening makes things worse: an action draws attention to someone nobody is currently thinking about, or starts a procedure better left unstarted. Where we see this, we say so plainly and recommend doing nothing — even when the work has already been paid for and declining is the harder option.
Pressure and urgency from the client
A demand to deliver «by this evening» something that physically takes weeks is a reason to decline, not a reason to agree and then fail. Accepting an impossible deadline means failing someone at the moment when failing them is least acceptable.
How this looks from your side
A refusal is stated directly and with a reason, without evasive wording and without promises to «come back later». Where we can point you somewhere useful, we do. Money already received is returned.
Why declining is part of the work
A provider who takes on everything either does not understand the limits of their competence or does not intend to respect them. In this field both are expensive for the client. Refusal protects more than us: more often it saves someone months and money they would have spent on work leading nowhere.