Real investors and real lenders do not discover a project through a telex screenshot, and they do not fund hundreds of millions because a "sender" says the money is already on a server. They underwrite. They identify the people, the assets, the contracts and the risks. They take a credit decision. Then, if they proceed, they document the deal and fund through ordinary bank channels that your own institution can see.
That sounds obvious to anyone who has raised capital before. It is not obvious to people who are new to the process, Those rejections are the opening the KTT and IPIP operators use. The pitch says the banks were too slow or not senior enough to see the product. The truth is usually simpler. The file did not clear underwriting.
Reviewed 13 November 2026.
If every real lender already rejected the deal
Start here, because this is where the scam needs you to stop thinking. If banks, funds and other real lenders have declined the transaction, it is not a KTT NBFC in a jurisdiction you cannot check, and it is not an IPIP "sender," that has suddenly decided you are special enough to deserve hundreds of millions without proper underwriting.
A decline is a credit opinion. The leverage may be too high, the cash flows undocumented, the offtake only a letter of interest, the collateral hard to control, or the sponsor may have no equity in the deal. Sometimes the business is real and the packaging is poor. Sometimes the business is not financeable on the terms requested. In either case, the next step is to repair the file or change the ask, not to pay a download fee.
The FBI has a plain description of what follows if you take the other path. An advance fee scheme occurs when the victim pays money in anticipation of receiving something of greater value, such as a loan, contract or investment, and then receives little or nothing in return. The Internet Crime Complaint Center has also warned that these scams often include counterfeit SWIFT documents, an advanced fee before funding, secrecy, and a run of excuses once the money fails to appear. That is not a parallel market. That is the decline, recycled as a miracle.
What underwriting actually involves
Underwriting is the work a lender or investor does to decide whether it can live with the risk. The exact package depends on the product. A borrowing-base facility, a project loan, a real estate advance and a trade facility do not ask for identical exhibits. The logic is shared.
Someone has to explain the borrower, the group structure and the beneficial owners. Someone has to show where repayment comes from, in numbers that can be tested, and the assets or contracts that support the credit. Someone has to map the risks that could break that story. The output is not a screenshot. It is a credit memo, a risk list, and a recommendation.
If you want a practical view of how a trade file is built for that audience, see how to model and underwrite trade finance to win lender approval. This article is not a substitute for that work, and it is not a service landing page. It is the standard you should expect when someone claims they can fund you.
Due diligence is not a ceremony
Due diligence is how the underwriting story is checked. Financial due diligence looks at accounts, bank statements, receivables, inventory and tax. Legal due diligence looks at title, permits, contracts, litigation and security. Commercial due diligence tests whether the customers, suppliers and margins are real. For a project, technical work may sit alongside that. For a trade, the goods and the inspection trail matter.
Fraud checks are part of this, not an optional extra. The ICC Financial Investigation Bureau has urged banks to increase KYC and due diligence in the face of false instruments, including fake guarantees and standbys written for very large amounts, sometimes in the name of institutions that did not exist or were unregulated. In a separate case, after reviewing the documents and speaking to the named bank, it confirmed that a purported one billion euro standby was false. That is the opposite of accepting a PDF and wiring a release fee.
If the person offering you money resists independent checks, that is not a sign of a discreet institutional process. It is a sign that the story cannot survive one.
KYC, AML and why the "secret sender" fails the first test
Know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering rules are not decorations. A real financial institution has to know who it is dealing with, where the money comes from, and whether the transaction is permitted. That work cuts both ways. The lender identifies you. You should also be able to identify the lender.
A KTT or IPIP operator often fails this at the first ask. The sending entity is vague. The licence, if any, is a scan. The bank officer cannot be reached through the institution's public channels. You may be told that secrecy forbids disclosure. The FBI has flagged improper references to legitimate financial institutions, unnecessary secrecy, and NDAs that get in the way of verification.
Regulators have also warned against the costume of authorisation. The Reserve Bank of India has cautioned that imposters have forged or misused NBFC registration papers, promised loans, taken processing charges and disappeared, and that some websites or apps falsely claim RBI registration. It has also warned against fictitious fund-transfer offers that extract processing or remittance charges. RBI publishes the list of entities it regulates on its own website. A pitch deck is not that list. In any country, use the supervisor's register, not the intermediary's brochure.
Credit committees, not chat windows
In a real institution, a large commitment is not signed off by a person who messaged you on WhatsApp. It goes to a credit committee or an equivalent approval forum, with limits, conditions and a written record. Analysts can recommend. They cannot invent a yes that the committee has not given.
That is why timelines in genuine processes can feel slow to a first-time sponsor. A same-day approval for an enormous amount, with no site visit, no model, no references and no committee, is not efficiency. It is a sales script.
Term sheets, and what they are not
If a lender or investor wants to proceed, you usually see a term sheet or a comparable offer letter. It states a proposed amount, tenor, pricing basis, security, conditions precedent, covenants and a timetable. It is often indicative until those conditions are met and final approvals are issued. Read it. The conditions precedent tell you what still has to be true before anyone is obliged to fund.
A term sheet is not a transfer receipt. It is not an MT103. It is not a server screenshot. It does not ask you to pay a special fee so that funds can be downloaded. If a document is calling itself a term sheet but the only immediate action is a wire to a third-party account to "activate" the facility, you are not in a credit process. You are in an advance-fee process. For the difference between that pattern and a legitimate advisory engagement, see advance-fee loan scam versus a legitimate advisory retainer.
How real fees work, and why there is nothing to download
Legitimate finance costs money, but it is paid for identifiable work and risk, under documents you can read. A lender earns interest and fees on a facility it is actually prepared to provide, subject to approval and conditions. Third-party costs, such as appraisals, legal opinions or inspections, are usually scoped in writing. An advisor or arranger may charge a retainer for work, and may charge success-related fees if a transaction closes. None of that is a condition for "releasing" a hidden pile of cash.
There is no server on which your loan is already sitting, waiting for a download charge. In a real funding, money moves through regulated accounts, after conditions are satisfied, in a way your bank can recognise. You should be able to see the receiving account, the sending institution and the legal reason for the payment. If you cannot, do not pay to make the story feel finished.
The ICC Financial Investigation Bureau has also warned businesses to be on guard when large sums must be paid in advance for financing packaged with standbys and unfamiliar forms. In one matter it reviewed, a "Confidential Loan Contract" required 2.5 percent of the loan up front, plus a non-disclosure contract. That figure is from the warning, not a fee schedule. The download invoice belongs in the same pile. The Bureau also noted that standby letters of credit are not mechanisms for borrowing money. This page is about capital raising, not cargo. If your file is a commodity pitch, start with the 10 most common commodity and instrument scams.
What a real process looks like, next to the scam
| Step | Real investor or lender | KTT NBFC or IPIP "sender" |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | KYC on the borrower and, if you ask, a verifiable institution on the other side | Vague names, doctored licences, officers who cannot be reached through official channels |
| Credit work | Underwriting memo, due diligence, questions that are sometimes uncomfortable | Little or no analysis, or a procedure list that replaces credit work |
| Decision | Credit committee or equivalent approval, with conditions | A chat message, a "ready to send" email, or a screenshot |
| Document | Term sheet or commitment, then facility documents | A receipt, a telex, an MT copy or a server acknowledgement |
| Money movement | Ordinary, confirmable payment to your account after conditions are met | A demand that you pay a fee to download or release funds that are not there |
What to do instead
Put the scam file down. If you already paid, contact your bank, keep every document, report the matter to local law enforcement, and file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Then go back to the real deal, if there is one. Fix what the declines were pointing at: the financials, the contracts, equity, collateral and use of proceeds. If the ask is too large, reduce it. If the structure is wrong, change it.
Then use a legitimate advisor to run a genuine process. Financely is an advisor and arranger only, never a lender. We do not fund deals from a hidden server, and we do not take a fee as the price of a guaranteed disbursement. We help prepare a file and introduce it to real capital sources, subject to credit approval. For the two patterns this cluster is written against, read the KTT scam and IPIP and IPID scams. On this site, see also IPIP, IPID, S2S and DTC transfer claims and how to verify a bank claiming to send funds via KTT.
If you have a real transaction and want that process, use the contact path on this site or request a free estimate. Bring the deal. Leave the forged receipts behind.
Frequently asked questions
What do real investors and lenders actually do before funding?
They identify the borrower, run KYC and sanctions checks, review the commercial file, underwrite credit, and take a decision through a credit committee or equivalent approval. If they want to proceed, they issue a term sheet or commitment on stated conditions. They do not download hidden funds against a screenshot.
If every lender rejected my deal, could a KTT NBFC or IPIP sender still fund it?
Not in the way the pitch describes. A rejection means the file did not clear real credit standards. It is not a signal that an unverified sender has decided you deserve hundreds of millions without underwriting. If the deal can be funded, it will be after the file is fixed and a genuine institution runs its process, not after you pay a download fee.
How do legitimate fees work?
Real lenders price credit, and they may charge bona fide third-party costs such as appraisals, legal counsel or due diligence, under a written process. A legitimate advisor may charge a retainer for work, without guaranteeing a loan. Nobody needs you to pay a special fee so that funds can be downloaded from a server. If a fee is the only condition for a very large disbursement, treat it as an advance-fee warning.
What is a term sheet, and is it a funding commitment?
A term sheet sets out proposed amount, pricing, security, conditions and timetable. It is usually indicative until stated conditions are met and final approvals are given. It is not a screenshot of a transfer, and it is not a promise that money is already sitting on a server. Read the conditions precedent.
What should I do instead of chasing a download or IPIP sender?
Fix the deal. Strengthen the financials, the contracts, the collateral story and the use of proceeds. Then work with a legitimate advisor such as Financely to run a real lender process. Financely is an advisor and arranger only, never a lender. If you already paid a download fee, contact your bank and report the matter to law enforcement and to the IC3.
