that's exactly what I thought : this isn't specific to discord -- this is a well known gambit that will work basically anywhere where the staff are unwilling to put in the effort of many levels of verification, or where inter-departmental communications have broken down to the point where verification is skipped for the sake of convenience.

the banning falsification is just the cherry on top to add realism and believability, this gambit can be pulled off without the fake bans.