[wongarsu]

Depends on your adversary. To the normal user who plugs it in it will appear dead, and the average data-restore lab might desolder the flash chip, figure out that it's dead and give up.

But I'd expect this to just burn out the flash chip's control logic, the stored data itself should stay intact. Someone determined enough could decap the chip and surgically wire in replacements for any burned-out parts.

I think it's a good balance if you have a believable excuse why you're carrying a dead USB stick, and aren't on the list of public enemies. It's a lot simpler than trying to melt the flash with thermite or something like that. But I wonder if there would be a reasonable way to run an erase cycle first.