I ran across this site today. I don't know how credible it is, but it seems like the guy does his homework.
https://www.gwern.net/DNM%20arrests#summary
I found one section that may put some minds at ease. As I said, I can't vouch for the credibility, so don't take it as gospel.
A few motifs do emerge:
- many buyers go down to CDs and the subsequent searches turning up additional illegal goods, suggesting
- major mitigations: never signing, and cleaning house to the extent possible when expecting a new delivery
international deliveries are highly risky for both the seller and the buyer, and Australia/NZ more so sellers should be assumed to keep records & addresses; many have turned out to do so
but simple addresses seem minimally useful to LE as there are few known busts despite the many thousands of captured transaction records with addresses - with a few exceptions:
- if the address is from an account which is itself a seller (an argument for single-role accounts)
- the seller has been infiltrated but not yet busted, and there are orders in flight which can be turned into quick & easy CDs
- the products being sold are guns or poisons, in which case, retrospective arrests may be tried
I know the past doesn't dictate the future, but this is still food for thought.
Gwern is a legend in these parts