ROCKFORD – A McHenry woman pleaded guilty Friday to mail fraud in a scheme involving work-at-home advertisements on the Internet.

Gloria Denise Ford, 45, admitted in federal court that from January through November 2011 she participated in a “secret shopper scheme,” in which people applied to fraudulent online advertisements and believed they were being hired to work as a “secret shopper.”

She mailed more than $1 million in counterfeit money orders to victims throughout the United States and received at least $12,000 as payment for her role in the scheme.