1. if hes a good source he mistyped the number and got rid of the hard copy the PO gave him - in which case he did the right thing by getting rid of it but made a typo. Outcome: you get the package you just dont know where it is daily.

2. he wrote the right number and the PO fucked up either they lost it or they just didnt scan it and it will be delivered.

3. He is bs'ing - I wouldnt look at this option until a good week after he shipped it if hes domestic and who knows how long if hes international (I dont know if international has that option)

I have found USPS.com to be a little screwy in my limited experience with it (most for business stuff couple times for gear). Sometimes it wont show the info until after I recieve it, I guess in that case they forgot to scan it at the begining but did it when it reached the destination.

any other ideas?

The source should destroy all tracking #'s after he sent them to you, so I dont think everyone would get busted, besides they arent concerned about who he sent to but who supplied to him, they go up the chain not down. If they didnt find a hard copy or data copy on his HD (they shouldn't find either if hes good and deletes/shreds everything after your done dealing with him) then there is no other link that I know of. The returns dont matter as they arent scanned and even if they were the source normally does not put down a correct return. Am I forgetting something you though of?