Again, the kicker is "the parents said ...".
When my oldest daughter was a toddler, she watched CNN and the History Channel. She remembered enough information from different shows that she recognized Audie Murphy's picture when we visited a museum exhibit about him, and she was able (at around three, early talker!) to discuss why he was famous.
Maybe this is one of those by proxy syndromes where the parent is sick and seeking attention by setting the kid up. With everything else in life I can’t imagine throwing this much energy and time into a stupid scam that takes years to pull off.