Can I be prosecuted or put in jail if I cash a secret shopping check that was a scam?

Maybe not jail but you will be responsible for paying the money back... It's really just not a good idea.

Yes you can go to jail, sounds like a money laundering scheme. Read the directions again, if it says anything about you cashing the check and putting it in your account, you might open yourself up to Identity theft. However if the directions told you to cash the check, take 10% and send the rest to some unknown address, then it all points back to you and you go to jail or maybe even prison for money laundering. Hope you didn't actually do anything yet, if so you might want to contact all of the major credit bureaus and have a fraud alert put on your credit report for you own protection as a start. Then you should call the police and let them investigate it, that way you can't get into trouble. As long as you didn't knowingly participate in anything illegal.................

When you read the directions on what to do, and while in the process of reading those directions you started to rationalize to yourself that something doesn't feel right about this.......Then you already know it's wrong.

Yes. This is a very serious crime. Don't do it.

In addition to fraud as some people have mentioned, you could be guilty of forgery--even if you did not write the phoney check. If you deposit the check, or attempt to cash it, knowing that it is phoney, that is forgery.

Even small crimes involving bad checks or phoney checks are taken very seriously by prosecutors and judges, because the banking system underlies our whole economy, and must be kept orderly and reliable. Search the news and you'll see that people get very tough sentences for knowingly passing bad checks, even if they had only a small part in the scam or even if they went along with somebody else's scam.

Stay away from it.

Sounds like fraud to me, and that is illegal.

Could be jail, a fine, probation, restitution, or all four.

Additional: the above answer was because you called it a scam, now you don't seem too sure.

I suppose there is a possibility this is legitimate, though I've never heard of it. If it is genuine, there has to be contact information enclosed with the check. You should call and find out more. If there is limited contact information, or none at all, it is probably a scam. The ones that are definate scams require money up front for taxes or handling charges, or have you keep a portion of the money and send the rest to them.

If there are no funds to cover the check, the amount will be withdrawn from your account. I have been reading that a lot of the secret shopper advertisements are a scam to get your personal information. They act like they are getting info for taxes and direct deposit of checks of payment.

If you know the check is a fake or part of some type of scam; then participating makes you culpable (you knew or should have known it was wrong).

At the moment you become aware of the scam you not only should walk away but you have some legal duty to report the matter to police (even if only anonymously).

Yes, it's called fraud. You might be going bye-bye for a few years if you pull that stunt. And it will be on your record for years to come. Why did you participate in a scam, anyway?

More information is needed. If you commit a crime, you can be prosecuted. If you cash a check you know is bad then you are committing a crime.

Considering that you just admitted to knowing about it on a public forum, I would say yes.

Yep, its called fraud.

If you know it's fraudelent, then you are responsible.