I think that page supports the notion that it's fraud. People pay with money for the book because of its claims. The legal dictionary says: FRAUD. An intention

I think that page supports the notion that it's fraud. People pay with money for the book because of its claims. The legal dictionary says: FRAUD. An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable thing belonging to him or to surrender a legal right; a false representation of a matter of fact, whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, which deceives and is intended to deceive another so that he shall act upon it to his legal injury. It's a pretty broad definition. Certainly a strong case could be mounted that this fits, however, academics are basically never prosecuted for fraud and there would be enormous institutional resistance to doing so, given the prevalence of fraud in the research literature.