I'm doing something similar on GL@R - very similar situation. The perps knew about the supposed PRs well in advance. Then they started fighting amongst themselves so there's a lot of dirty laundry lying about.
There is much more of this criminal stuff going on here than than just the companies and wicked MMs. The players are the most crooked of all.
Took me awhile to recognize this was what was going on - got skinned a few times by them. The more that we can bring this to light, the more that we can help folks avoid the scams. Ultimately the market works better for everyone when it's reasonably honest.