I wouldn't go so far as to call them BS, but as far as being able to lie with them, you sure can. Not so much when they're used by professionals but when someone throws out very misleading little statistical tidbits. For instance, "Child victims of gun violence have increased by x% over the past decade." What they're not telling you is that the definition of children had changed from those under 16 to those under 18. Of course there's more "child" victims now, 16-18 year olds comprise most of the nation's gang members!
So as not to be considered getting political, here's another example from the other side of the political fence, "This administration has saved x% more wetlands than the previous administration." Sure, that's true, especially when you change the definition of what's a wetland a month before you made this speech! The truth is under the old definition your administration has allowed the destruction of more wetlands than any other administration is history!
Both of these statements, BTW were made in State of the Union addresses by recent former presidents!
Lies, Dammed Lies, Statistics, Politicians!!!
