It seems like everyday Clark brings you news of a new Ponzi scheme. Many of these operations have been around for years and now they're collapsing one after the other.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the Securities and Exchange Commission now alleges that a woman named Celia Flores ran a Ponzi scheme for 3 years that took in $23 million.

Clients of Flores' Maximum Return Investments were promised a return of 25% per month on their money. She claimed to have special methods of investing in oil, silver, gold, exploration activities, real estate and banking.

This was, however, just a classic Ponzi scheme. She was taking the money from original investors and paying interest with money from newcomers…on and on, month after month. Flores even offered a 10% referral fee to those who brought her new clients.

So where did the $23 million go?

Flores allegedly bought a fancy home and used another $3 million to pay for a party intended to bolster her company's public profile. Maximum Return Investments was active in California, New York, Georgia, Utah, Nevada, Texas and Illinois.

The message here is simple: Don't buy into it anything where you're promised an outlandish return.