Data is not meaningful in and of itself. What matters is what that data signifies, i.e. how it changes the reader's understanding of the world. It doesn't matt

Data is not meaningful in and of itself. What matters is what that data signifies, i.e. how it changes the reader's understanding of the world. It doesn't matter if the data is made up if what it signifies is complete nonsense anyway. If their goal was to commit fraud they would obfuscate their deceit, not make it a google search away from clearly being a hoax. Your definition of fraud is so broad that it removes any responsibility of due diligence from the reader, which is the entire point of having a peer review process in the first place.