How to sftp a file? get_url failing 'need secure connection'

[G T]

Hi all, I am attempting to sftp a file from an ftp server to a target host.  I am attempting to use get_url with the url in the below format but getting 'urlopen error ftp error: 530 Not logged in, need secure connection' - any ideas why this is failing?

FTP://<username>:<password>@<ip>:<filename>