This paper examines multiple sources of Islamic State (IS) terrorist group’s funding and some counter-mechanisms deployed by the global anti-IS coalition. The paper analyses: a) how IS exploits the volatile political situations and security vulnerabilities across the Middle East and North Africa to generate funding, and b) exposes the dichotomy between the terrorist group’s religious rhetoric and its criminal enterprises. The paper aims to help counter-terrorism practitioners and scholars generate counternarrative responses to enhance the efficacy of a state’s counter terrorism (CT) and counter violent extremism (CVE) strategies against IS.