I suspect fraud is much more common in this and similar fields than anybody wants to admit.
In fact, it’s virtually a policy. I once worked with someone who was finishing a doctorate in sociology. For her final project for her dissertation, she couldn’t get enough interviews, and in fact could get virtually none that bore out her thesis. So her advisers just told her to “extrapolate” (i.e., make it up). She did, defended it in a room full of people who had probably all gotten their degrees through such fraud, and got her doctorate.
That's been the case for a long time. Over 30 years ago I was assisting professors doing research, and it was all about "what will get grant money?" and "what will get my grant renewed?"
It's all about the $$$, and a big part of getting the $$$ is giving the people who give you the $$$ what they want to hear.