bubble abuse real?

Seen this talked about a few times, especially in tourneys online. Folks waiting till the bubble to go real aggro, pushing stacks just to abuse everyone who's scared to miss out on the payout. I get the idea but is it actually that easy to pull off, or does it only really work against total nits? From the outside it always seems like those players catch some heat and get snapped off by someone who’s tired of the shoves.

On the flip side, I've also seen people totally freeze up, so maybe it’s a decent spot if you pick your moments. I mostly play live, and there it feels like you can read when people are about to fold anything but the nuts on the bubble. Curious how folks actually see it play out in your games, especially online versus in-person. Sometimes I wonder if it’s just people exaggerating how often it works.