Before wasting your time, look for these red flags:
The team behind FiveM (Cfx.re) has explicitly banned the use of fake player scripts. Spoofing player counts is considered a form of server listing fraud. Servers caught using these methods risk being blacklisted from the official server browser entirely—a death sentence for any community. Fake Players Fivem
There is a legitimate psychological principle at play here: Social Proof. New players scrolling through the server list are naturally drawn to servers that already have a population. Nobody wants to roleplay in an empty city. Before wasting your time, look for these red