Everyone here making AI 'social profile' systems take note of this and add it as something to track. Will come in great for the marketing feature list.
Yes, there's got to be people farmers who grow various fictional people over time for use by ___. Create and shut down employers who pay the fictional people, rent apartments left empty in their name, maybe ding up a credit report to look real, arrange for someone who matches a look to appear in a paper under the name being farmed, kind of like Sim City but in the "real world" like Pokemon Go.
I thought shelf companies were so you could quickly get a new company going (as it's all pre-registered), so you have an established history, which some organisations - such as banks - value, or so you can access a type of company no longer available[0]. They're not fake companies; to the extent companies are "real", they are real. They're just dormant.
You're probably thinking of letterbox companies. Shelf companies are kept by lawyers, accountants and the like so they can provide them to clients without them having to go through an incorporation process. In some jurisdictions it's a way to not have to wait a year or so until you can pay out cheap dividends.