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I think there is a very legitimate problem behind this arising out of the fact that it is very much easier to alter the content of an ebook than of a paper book.
If the book has intact DRM then the issue become that of trusting the source, e.g. Amazon, and although they may have shown themselves less than perfect at times, at least you know what you are dealing with.
Without DRM it is a jungle and you have no way of tracing through whose hands the file has passed before reaching you. Files which have had DRM removed have by that very fact been handled by dishonest agents. Opening an epub in Sigil can give you some clues as to an audit trail, but not much detail on possible edits.
If there is a paper copy available at a library or bookstore you can check any doubtful passages against it. For many older books you can also check the scans at archive.org Here I am thinking of text which has been innocently altered or garbled due to the conversion process. The kinds of scenarios envisioned by the OP verge on paranoia and probably would do better with psychotherapy.
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