I used to work at Blockbuster (pause in memory of Blockbuster :0(
While I was there, we got shopped, and the shopper used questions that were obviously word-for-word from the mystery shopping guidelines, because they weren't natural questions (!).
I was fascinated, and decided I wanted to try being on the other side of things, and see if I could do it withOUT giving myself away...of course, when I searched online for MSCs, everything that came up was obviously a scam. Two years later, I was at work (different job at this point) and the subject of mshopping came up. One of my co-workers said she'd been shopping since the days before internet (!) so schedulers used to call her (on a landline!) to tell her about available shops.
She was more than happy to give me a list of the MSCs she likes, and excitedly told me the different places I would get to shop if I signed up for those MSCs.
It's been about 6 years (of almost full-time shopping!) and the novelty has yet to wear off. I'm SO grateful! Free gym memberships, pedicures, groceries, gas, oil changes, shoes, clothes, gifts, massages, etc.! Long live mystery shopping! Merry Christmas everyone!