There's no deception intended with crab sticks. They aren't shaped like crab and I have never seen them passed off as crab. They do sometimes feature on their own strength in Japanese cuisine.
I have regularly (though perhaps not often) seen krab passed off as crab in kaitenzushi and table-service mass-market sushi places, but usually in the omission rather than the commission. That is, the menu will say crab without clarifying that it's fake crab. If asked, though, they'll 'fess up to the fake stuff, and certainly on appearance at the table (whether from server or belt), it's obviously krab-with-a-k.
Have to agree that it's pretty near to a culinary scourge - I'd say it's scourge-adjacent. "Their own strength in Japanese cuisine" is pretty weak, IMHO.