PhD scholarship milking

I once heard of this phenomena by a friend who had achieved a high level of success, working two full-time jobs (without overlapping hours) and also "doing a PhD".

His PhD proposal seemed legitimate, but he continued to stall progress and his supervisor was the one to only check in a few times a year. Every time he would have an excuse.

He had a scholarship that granted him about $35K a year.

Have you heard of anything like this happening? How common is this in academia? Where people start a PhD with no intention of finishing, or delaying it as long as possible, whilst working full-time?