The only real deception would have been about the sheer distance to travel, and even that was probably more out of general ignorance than bad faith.

The crusaders knew full well they had nothing to inherit, and most would have been lucky to have enough equipment to qualify as heavy cavalry. Becoming a crusader thus encouraged families to pay for better equipment, and helped the crusaders to receive far more support from strangers who would otherwise have no reason to aid them. Just look at the difference in support Ukriane has gotten compared to something like Yemen, and you can start to appreciate how big a diffrence ideology actually makes.

Not to be too cynical, of course: few would likely leave everything they knew behind if faith wasn't a genuine motivator, and all but the most ambitious could probably have found easier employment along the way if they looked hard enough. That so many endured great hardships for so long is difficult to attribute to mere pragmatism.