Your counterargument here only applies when exchanges participate in the scam. Of course that does happen, and for a long time you could even pay OKeX to do thi

Your counterargument here only applies when exchanges participate in the scam. Of course that does happen, and for a long time you could even pay OKeX to do this for you. But it's much less common than obscure coins faking volume off-exchange or faking node activity.