Sas,
I have no doubt your experience is not unique and purposeful attempts to deceive or stretch the truth are certainly out there. I have to say that my experience with the intent of those conducting passenger/cargo counts have always been done 'by the numbers' (showing how many pax on each leg and not giving a false 'total count' at the end of the flight), but occasionally anomalies arise.
When we look at numbers that don't match up we don’t automatically declare fraud, as more often than not there is a legitimate explanation behind it. Having said that, if there is evidence that shows numbers are being purposely falsified there should be no hesitation to expose it (military or civilian).
21stC