I would never attempt to cash a check if I did not know where it came from. Ive been scammed before so I am EXTREMELY careful, however mine was a little different.
When i was in college I had this credit union account though my school, but you had to write your account number on the back of the check to make desposits through the ATM.
A few weeks later I go to pull out some money and says my account balance is $0. I call the customer service and they froze my account for suspicious activity. It turns out that (by coincidence) someone got my account number and went to Staples, bought checks and printed them off on my computer with my routing number and tried writing checks.
If you have the account number, its not hard to figure out the router number by calling the bank and asking (as long as you know which bank the checks are from which usually they post a stamp on the back when cashed)
my
if you did not earn it or know where it came from then i woulndt take the chance