> how about also creating a more direct 'whistleblower' type of system
There needs to first be a system of checks and balances for this to work. The people at the top already know and condone the behavior; who are the whistleblowers reporting to?
"We represent the top scientists in our field; these are a group of grad students. Who are you going to believe?"
And of course they can easily shut anyone down with two words: "science denier"
But given that many people are saying that they noticed and quit academia, how about also creating a more direct 'whistleblower' type of system, where complaints (with detailed descriptions of the fraud or a general view on what one sees in terms of loose practices) goes to some research monitoring team which can then come in and verify the problems.