The North American Securities Administrators Association is warning investors not to fall for shady income investments in this time of rock-bottom interest rates.

With Tuesday’s interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve pushing yields on fixed investments such as certificates of deposit and bonds to their lowest levels in years, the NASAA issued a list of the “Top Five” investments to be wary about.

With many investors worried by volatile stock markets and the terrorist attacks, regulators warned against investing in risky promissory notes, viatical settlements, exotic offshore investments and other high-risk or fraudulent investments promising high returns.

“When evaluating an investment, you should remember that risk and reward go together,” said Joseph Borg, president of the NASAA. “If someone is promising you high returns with no risk, be very, very skeptical, ask lots of questions and get it in writing.”

The five investments, ranked roughly in order of concern are: promissory notes; “callable” CDs Internet stock pitches; prime bank schemes; and viatical settlements.

Among other defensive measures, the NASAA recommends that investors get a professional, third party opinion when presented with investment opportunities that seem to offer unusually high returns in comparison to other investment options. Pie-in-the-sky promises often signal investment fraud, it says.