Potential buyer here, is it unethical to hire people to act as competing offerors to increase urgency?

Hi! I went to a showing the other day for a property I am interested in that has been on the market for some time. Shortly after I got there another party arrived and was waiting to view the house. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but I have a friend in the neighborhood who called me after I left and asked what I thought. I mentioned that someone else pulled up to view and I don’t think we could be competitive if it came to a bidding war. She responded with “was it an XYZ car and an ABC car? Those are the same cars that come shortly after every showing, they work for the listing agent and act like they are interested in the property to try to manipulate you”

I obviously don’t have any way of verifying this information, but IF it were true (which is a huge assumption), is that unethical/illegal/or is it just ‘it leaves a bad taste in your mouth’?

Edited to add location, it’s in the state of GA