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Overhearing things you're not meant to hear is an often overlooked method of propagating information. And you can do it in two different ways:
1. Use it as a method to pass information to a group of PCs. They could be hanging out in a tavern, or walking past people in a crowded market, or maybe even waiting in a castle to speak to the local lord - and some people nearby are having a conversation about something, not realising the heroes can hear what they're saying. You can use this to drop almost any information, and you can make it as reliable or unreliable as necessary. The people they are overhearing could be direct agents of the main villain, letting slip crucial details of the villainous plan, or they could be random citizens spilling rumours and half-truths. The heroes don't have any clear way of finding out without revealing that they overheard, so they're not likely to want to do that.
2. If you need your villain to be a step ahead, they can have agents eavesdropping on the heroes as they discuss their plans. Often PCs will talk a little too openly—out on the street, or in a crowded tavern—where they really should be a bit more careful of people hearing what they're saying. So take advantage and have some people overhear them! It doesn't even need to be the villain - you can have fun with random peasants overhearing details about magic spells or whatever, and then assuming the heroes are in league with Dark Forces. They could find themselves suddenly frozen out of the good graces of the village if they're not careful.
Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)
[Keybounce's comments will appear here when received.]
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Well that blew up in Finn's face faster than anyone would have thought, including myself. Since the spy business is coming out now, I'm changing my mind to the party starting a bar fight rather than them being attacked by the other people in the bar. In-movie, I bet this reversal of the usual "nobody overhears the conversation" trope was an interesting twist for people watching. If this is an Irregulars plot twist though, I can't think why Rey and Finn would suddenly be arguing with each other. Maybe Finn recognized the aliens as potentially cover-blowing and is trying to encourage a fight against them?
And I wouldn't exactly call it an easy escape from Tatooine. I still agree that they were basically let go, but it was not an obvious "pretend to try to kill the defectors" situation. AOE attacks don't discriminate, and Pete had to pull out a few nonconventional tricks to keep the Millennium Falcon from getting blown up. And for the record, I still don't think Poe is dead; this scene is just too good of a gun not to shoot.
Transcript
GM: <roll> Rey, walking past to find the stairs, you overhear some of what Finn is discussing.
Rey: Finn! What are you doing?
Finn: Rey! I was just asking—
Quiggold: Shut up!
Rey: Over here! Now!
{Rey and Finn move away from the table to talk}
Rey: I heard you! You’re working for the First Order!
Finn: No no no... They think I’m working for them. I’m passing them false intel.
Rey: You told them about the map! It all makes sense now, how we managed to escape Tatooine so easily.
Finn: They tried to kill us! They did kill Poe!
Rey: An actual Resistance pilot!
Darth Kanata: Did you intend that die roll to blow up?
GM: One hopes, but one never expects.