The context here is protection from government surveillance...but I have had similar experience dealing with immigration and to a lesser degree taxes where less

The context here is protection from government surveillance...but I have had similar experience dealing with immigration and to a lesser degree taxes where less resources could have been spent. The government has the ability to get massive amounts of data about you quite easily. What "protects" you from negative consequences of this is the processes, rules, and procedures baked into the government itself, not copying the communication style of some Hollywood mafia movie gangsters.