I've also seen reports like that, but, for the ones I've seen, the person was apparently also an elite member of the airline. So it wasn't clear if the Pre-Check was being granted due to status or the conditional GE acceptance. I would be interested in hearing about a non-status/non-opt-in passenger getting Pre-Check solely on the basis of conditional GE.
I'm not sure I understand. You don't need GE for Precheck. How would you know if you got it solely on the basis of conditional approval, when you don't need to be a member at all to get precheck. My wife has been precheck for a while now without GE...