Astute observation. There have been more documentaries and stories about this topic, and plenty of those seem plausible, but these often focus on webcamming and catering to specific fetishes and interests. Those stories also seem much more down to earth and less dreamlike.
Perhaps it was the 'jumbo-sized Danny DeVito's' that kinda broke the suspense of disbelief.
Quotes that are too perfect, stereotypes that are too stereotypical, plus a generous helping of "everyone is" quotes.
Mind you, accusing a journalist of outright fabrication is very serious.
What's more likely is that she was able to selectively form a narrative. Note the total absence of independent statistics. No interviews with police, independent researchers, other journalists, sociologists, economists. No quotes from people who break the narrative, creating a total absence of any alternative storyline.