Their actions did not match that of rerolls or noob nations. That was enough for me to mention it to a BAPS colleague who, after checking the nations in question, agreed with my initial suspicion. I guess I was right.
On the subject of tech selling: Setting yourself up as a tech selling & tech raiding alliance will end in disaster Tommy, your trading partners will not be happy if tech raids gone wrong stop delivery of tech owed. Just FYI, you know.