Not having followed this story very closely, I think the issue of whether these "scientists" were "testing" the system could be resolved by examining
when their ruse was discovered or announced. In other words, if the "scientists" had jumped up and yelled "gotcha!" soon after the hair samples were correctly identified, then it's no big deal.
On the other hand, if enough time elapsed for language to be inserted into the final report based upon the false data, or worse, had the report been published containing the false results, then these "scientists" are lying through their teeth.