This is indeed well-known, in recent years I've seen it referred to as Gell-Mann Amnesia: https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/
Kind of in the same vein as the strategies around gamification, where some identified frailty of the human psyche is being leaned on for cash.
It's not quite a con because the technology is useful and certainly worth something, but it's not non-exploitive either.