From what I have learned, some of the "certifications" that certain companies/industries use are just PR bunk, too. Like Starbucks is so big they said "we'll make our own certification program," and it almost never checks any coffee plantations and when it does, they get advance notice so they just send the child workers away that day and so they can say, "look, no child labor" but every other day there is.
Yes, that kind of thing is common. Same as with the 'clean energy credits' that are sold to people buying non green energy, with the idea that in some way they are actually not buying non green energy. Unfortunately, a large % of the most vocal voices in society are from younger people who completely lack experience in business, behind the scenes (aka 'the real world') and who believe what they are told by the corporate worldview... While at the same time then turning against the corrupt corporations in some areas, but not other - key - ones.
A lot of the "credits" programs are giving credits for "preserving" land that wasn't in danger of being cut down in the first place, yeah. The rare ones that are actually REMOVING carbon are so small scale - like that company that has a mechanical carbon scrubber in Iceland that then pushes it into the rock and mineralizes it there - it does what it says it does, but it's like .01% or something in the scheme of things.
Maybe if all those carbon credits paid for various programs that we know are helpful, like look at the Drawdown program and fund some of those, we might get better results, but generally yeah, with rare exception they're more of a "feel better about that carbon you just used" conscience cleaner then an actual climate cleaner.