SEO is fraud? Look at the size of these top SEO companies 17 years ago
"Tell a Lie That is Big Enough, and Repeat it Often Enough, and the Whole World Will Believe It"
The term 'genre' seems a more fitting for SEO than the word 'industry'. There are a number of people who have become very successful with it.
If anything I think these numbers indicate that the model of piggy backing off an established service can be profitable (rather than just attributing value to SEO).
I won't outright say the entire thing is a fraud...hell even Isaac Newton was an alchemist. He was just remembered for things other than trying to turn lead to gold.