It is not that there are people out there with fraudulent credentials and embellished flying experience, it is the system that does not prevent it.
Rules and regulations are only as strong as the backbone that enforces them. Have a weak CP or weak training system / culture / recruitment team at your airline and then foxes will go hunting.
Take India for example. Those of us with experience in that cesspit of utter corruption and [criminally] negligent safety and training departments can attest to fake hours and fake credentials as more of a norm than an non-norm.
Where does it start and end? OK, say a pilot does have a well earned ATP/ATPL. The airline structure and culture I witnessed at Air India was where pilots' line check and sim check forms were completed prior to departure or entry into the sim. Patterns, approaches and non-normals were ticked off as complete by the TRE/I that were never completed. So, does this pilot therefore really posses a correct, true and valid license to operate? This is the tip of the iceberg at that hell-hole acting as a disgraceful excuse of an airline.
I was abused by the heads of the safety and training dept for failing a 777 Capt in the sim for his inability to simply fly a raw data circuit with 15 kt x-wind:- as the sim profile dictated was the sortie. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I resigned. That said AI Capt was checked to line on a BOM-DXB-BOM flight 2 days later by his "batch-mate". Is this kind of culture not promoting "fake" credentials and min standards as much as those doing so from an initial issue level?
In truth there are some very, very professional local and expat pilots there. They are in the vast minority (my opinion) where by and large their efforts to correct the mess, speak up against the corrupt and negligent practices are shouted down by those of far higher standing seeking and existing only to protect the trail they leave behind and the cash flow they receive as a result.
Fakers are everywhere. But they exist in scenarios that allow them to.