How to get new, user-content based website from 0-60 - ?

free stuff or contests
Maybe some kind of mysteriousness about the site could help

Question 1: What is it about?

Post on related forums to try to tell people about your site. Ask a blogger with lots of readers to try the site out and write a post about it. Try to find people locally who may be interested, then get them to tell friends. A referral program where current users can benefit from spreading the word will encourage a lot more to do so. Print stickers, leaflets, posters..

I think it’s highly unethical to copy content from another site or to create fake accounts and if you were to get found out, any credibility you have gained goes right out the window.

Can you describe what the site is generally about? What kind of people is it aimed at, etc.? Is there any costs involved for members? Are you planning on spending any money on advertising?

You can, of course, copy content that is licensed under e.g. a Creative Commons license that allows copying, or another permissive license like the one that applies to Wikipedia content. However, that won’t make the site more attractive cause it’s, well, not original.