That is 100% true here too. That's why I would never say a word to the police it I ever was interrogated ("interrogation" meaning potentially hostile questioning, not casual conversation or reporting a crime that you observed). Not a word other than "I am exerting my right to remain silent, I wish for all questioning to cease immediately" without my lawyer being present. That is not because I do not want to help solve a crime, it's that I don't want to be drug into defending myself against a bogus charge.

Here in the US, it is OK for the police to lie to you, but you cannot lie to the police. To make an extreme example, you could be called in for questioning about, say, a stolen car that the thief happened to park in front of your house. The cop asks you what you had for breakfast. Being ashamed to admit that you had a donut, you tell him you had eggs. Technically, that is a crime that you could be prosecuted for. Hopefully you wouldn't be. But it could happen if someone had it out for you though.

In the same vein, anything you say to a cop can be used against you in court. They supposedly tell you this when you are arrested, but I don't have any personal experience with that. The unusual thing is, what you say can be used against you, but it cannot be use for you. It's called hearsay, and is inadmissible in court. There are a few exceptions to that, I believe they call them "spontaneous utterances", but for the most part there is nothing that you can say to a cop that will help you. Nothing. The police can't make things easier for you if you help them. It's the district attorneys that decide whether to charge you with a crime or not, the police don't have a say in that. So it is best to shut up and say nothing. Don't agree to any searches, etc. Shutting up will impede their investigation, I get that, and in a perfect world I would not want to do that. But you are at 100% disadvantage when speaking to a cop, so unfortunately things have come to "keep your mouth shut for your own good". No doubt the cops will imply that you are a criminal and would surely talk to them "if you have nothing to hide". Don't fall for it. Just stay silent. Doesn't matter if you're a criminal or not. The advice goes for good guys as well as bad guys.

But back to the original comment regarding joking about laundering money - I doubt ETS will have to take up a collection to bail Jeanette out of jail any time soon. Any lawyer that tried to bring up an isolated joke on ETS Forums against someone in court would (1) probably be laughed out of court, and (2) end up pissing off the judge and/or jury so badly as to get any case they were presenting thrown out.