It's quite simple really. For anyone not covered by national travel protection regulations, Etihad are not offering refunds and are only offering "travel bank" credits for flights that they have cancelled. This means that most people are taking this option as they are offered no alternative. But what many of them don't realise is that by putting most prices up Etihad may be obliging them to pay a lot more later as the travel bank credit is only for the amount of the original ticket, and will not include any later fare difference. For example, I bought my ticket in a sale but list prices now for the same trip next year are 50+% higher, and are much higher than other comparable airlines for the same dates. So I would have to pay that extra 50+% in order just to use my "credit", whereas a refund would cover the entire cost of a replacement business class ticket with another airline with similar service levels, even without looking for sale pricing.

Is this a massive calculated scam perpetrated by corporate thieves? It looks like it to me.

I will never buy another Etihad ticket again, regardless of the outcome of this. Their conduct is totally shameful.