Three weeks of diligence wasted on fake financials. A broker told my client: "Historical financials are here. Forecast is over there." Three weeks into the QoE, the proof of cash didn't tie to the income statement. I looked closer at the "historicals." The header didn't look like QuickBooks. The formatting was off. This looked like someone's laptop project — not an accounting system export. I called the broker. Asked who built the file. "One of our analysts in our investment banking division." Analysts don't build historical financials. Accountants do. Analysts build forecasts. I asked to speak with them. Suddenly they were busy. Out of town. Hard to reach. Then the email came — copied to my client: "We made a mistake. Those weren't the historicals. Those were a forecast." Three weeks of diligence. $15K gone. Burned on a fantasy document while the broker held the real financials the whole time. I made a video showing exactly how to spot fake financials before you waste your diligence budget → redacted