RIP-OFF ALERT: There's a new warning from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about an infiltration of Ponzi schemes that they're now seeing.

The Chicago Tribune also reports that scamsters are pushing the opportunity to make money at low risk or no risk if you're willing to turn your money over to them to do trades. This can involve gold, silver, titanium, platinum, orange juice futures -- you name it.

Here we are at the beginning of 2009 and already 8 criminal rings have been busted. A man in Hawaii stole $1.4 million from 125 different deaf people. Somehow this individual wiggled into the hearing-impaired community and promised smart and safe commodity investments. Instead, he bought a million dollar home, took flying lessons and purchased fancy electronics.

In another example, a Canadian-based ring stole just under $5 million while pretending to do a variety of commodities trading. That money allegedly just flat-out disappeared.

Commodities trading has always been subject to fraudulent activity because understanding how a commodities exchange works is not for the faint of heart. It's very easy for a huckster to make a good pitch with a Powerpoint presentation or a sample DVD and win your confidence.

But commodities trading can be so tricky that it burns even the most brilliant people who do it. So any promise of a method to guarantee safe returns is a big lie.