I'd only roast you for misunderstanding the "problem" to be solved.
It's not that the societies are "low-trust" but that the cost of being caught for cheating is that you continue with the life already available to you or you win a golden ticket if you're not caught. It's a no-brainer.
There's no reason to not-cheat unless you absolutely don't have to and what's the maxim about good programmers, they're so lazy they'll figure out a work-around to save themselves some time? Even if it's stuff they know already? Once you're into the system there are mutual shared interests and political efforts that can support such a career.
You essentially just described the difference between low-trust and high-trust societies. In low-trust societies because minimal trust exists, violating trust has minimal consequences. With high-trust societies, losing trust has heavy consequences, because you've violated an expected social norm and it creates reputational damage.
There's no reason to not-cheat unless you absolutely don't have to and what's the maxim about good programmers, they're so lazy they'll figure out a work-around to save themselves some time? Even if it's stuff they know already? Once you're into the system there are mutual shared interests and political efforts that can support such a career.