People who run a shady business are not going to keep a pristine paper trail. And face it, receipts can be manufactured. The only way this would ever be challenged is if they were audited by the IRS or there was enough evidence for a warrant which, I can guarantee you, there will not be over a fish. LFS buy stuff from customers all the time, cheap, or for store credit. All they really have to do is mock up something in a computer, for customer X, who traded in their gem tang cause it was being a jerk so we gave them 5 years worth of free maintenance...oh well look at that. They fell off the face of the planet....oh gee the address was fake? Darn, sorry about that. Yes, receiving stolen goods is still theft and yes they could go to jail (and would) but the problem is proving it. Remember--innocent until proven guilty. The ease at which people steal pets and claim them as their own is exactly whey people microchip them so they have some sort of "vin number" and a person can have paper work claiming the animal is theirs. Other than that, all you have is a piece of paper from the pound, or registration papers, that could belong to any dog. With fish, while you might have a receipt, if you bought it from a business, you probably will not have one if you bought it from an individual (put an ad in livestock for sale for a gem tang for 500 bucks cash and see how fast it you get pms.)
The point is paperwork, taxes, all the things a legitimate business do are exactly what someone running a business under the table or with shady ethics will not do. It's highly unlikely, if the company is guilty, that this is their first time doing it. I guarantee you they have covered their *** if they have any common sense. Yes oxymoron for a thief, but you get the idea.
