At least with the 'big' valley companies, as a "senior engineer" (level 5) the usual numbers are around $170k base + a bonus that is 10%-20% of your base salary.

That's about $200k cash without RSUs.

So I'd say people are not lying.

I guess if you switched 7 times in 10 years, it's hard to get RSU refreshers / salary bumps and companies tend to, if in doubt, hire BELOW your actual level.