It seems like whenever anyone on this sub discusses the possibility of LE running a vendor page the immediate suspicion is that purchases from the vendor would possibly lead to immediate apprehension by LE. This seems like a stupid strategy though. It wouldn't be too difficult for someone who was raided soon after the buy to get bailed out, go on the forum, and warn everyone about their suspicions of the vendor. If I were running an investigation I would use seized evidence or another source to run successful transactions and deliver the product so no suspicion was aroused, then just compile a list of addresses on a watch list to bust through future investigations so it would be harder to correlate the busts to my page and pin down my vendor account as the source of the intel. This would also allow LE to watch the mail to the address for a while and allow small stuff to go through in order to wait til the biggest prospective bust they predict to move through, and pounce at the perfect moment. What do you guys think about the plausibility of this strategy. Are there any holes in my theory? IS it safe to assume that this is probably a technique currently used and that any currently reputable vendors could be cooperating with or being run by LE to collect info for future investigations?
Headline:
It could happen, but it is a risky strategy PR wise. They could "run" a busted vendor but that could still result in blowback.