Q. How safe is investing in CDs from offshore banks?

A.There is never a safe time to put your money in an offshore bank. Your money is not insured there, and the banking laws in most countries where offshore banks operate provide no protection or recourse. You won't just lose the interest you earned. You could easily lose every cent you deposit.

Several readers asked us about Millennium Bank, based in Kingstown, the capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, because of the high certificate of deposit rates it advertised.

Millennium typically offered 1.5 to 2 percentage points more than the best deals at FDIC-insured banks -- a premium that seemed artfully calculated to be alluring but not alarming.

Its highest rates were reserved for big deposits ($25,000 or $100,000) put into "premium" long-term CDs -- four or five years -- that absolutely could not be redeemed until maturity.

Millennium claimed to be the subsidiary of a Swiss bank -- something the secretive Swiss embassy in Washington wouldn't discuss with us when we called to check. We could never find out who was behind the bank.

Until now.

The Justice Department has charged William Wise of Raleigh, N.C., and Kristi Hoegel of Napa, Calif., with running a $68-million Ponzi scheme and shut Millennium down.

"None of the investor funds were used for any investment purpose," according to a Bloomberg News report on the closing. Instead, defendants took a "vast majority" of the money, while using a portion to pay purported returns, the report says.

With the Federal Reserve continually pushing interest rates down, it's hard to find a CD paying 3%, even in our extensive database of CD rates. But that and our 5 smart moves for finding the best CD rates will help you make the most of your savings with the least possible risk.