What makes it so hard for undercover agents to browse this stuff and make purchases of <insert illegal substance or act here> to nab the seller? Or set up fake services and nab buyers?
It must be a mess. I can't see how people wouldn't be paranoid on here to the point of chilling it.
Undercover agents can buy whatever they like. But smart sellers aren't so easy to identify. There's always a risk in mailing stuff, of course. But Bitcoin can be anonymized well enough.
Buyers are more vulnerable. Many have stuff mailed to their actual addresses. Even if they pay with well anonymized Bitcoin. Some have stuff sent to places that are empty, where people are on vacation, or infirm, and so on.
I haven't heard of fake markets. But investigators have taken over markets, and identified both sellers and buyers.
It must be a mess. I can't see how people wouldn't be paranoid on here to the point of chilling it.