Try to make up for rising home heating oil prices by investing in commodity futures that promise to warm up your portfolio and you could lose your flannel shirt and suffer an especially frosty winter.

It's a lot wiser to put aside extra cash for what could be a more expensive heating oil season this year, instead of being suckered by scams promising returns on heating oil and other commodity futures.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a consumer advisorywarning the public to chill out on companies promising to triple and quadruple your money with heating oil and other commodity futures and options trading based on the possibility of higher heating oil costs in a war with Iraq. The commission is the federal regulatory agency for commodity futures and options contracts trading.

The CFTC recently brought actions against commodity brokerage firms and brokers soliciting customers with claims investors could earn large profits with little risk based on media reports on world events.

The commission says the pitches come via spam, telemarketing efforts, online ads, Internet chat rooms and broadcast ads on television and radio.

Increases in demand or supply limitations for a particular commodity could affect price, but traders anticipating price changes factor in the the extra cost preventing those factors from affecting the futures or option position on commodities. Market professionals have already factored in to current prices the possibility that war with Iraq could disrupt future supplies of oil an oil products, the commission said.

Unless you are rube looking to be fleeced, take these precautions before placing your funds with any company that offers leveraged or financed commodity transactions for heating oil or other futures.

Published: November 20, 2002

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.