Discussion/Question: Player got a permanent ban for rank reset

Not my personal experience but had read someone's experience.

1. Player had played from 2014-2017, legend rank
2. Recently only started playing again in 2020
3. Player reset their rank, achieved crusader rank
4. Player is banned from game

On the surface, this looks like your typical smurf experience: Player exhibits higher skill than his bracket and is punished for it. My question is, wouldn't this issue affect a lot more players, specifically those who opt for a rank recalibration, and they end up in a lower rank but still maintain their previous higher rank skills?

I do not know the details of the player, but I assume during the time lapse, there are a number of factors that could have played a part in the advance towards the eventual ban, such as the account being inactive for a period of time, the re-linking of a phone number to the account, the player's skill level was considerable/average before but the standard today has fallen such that it was considered 'playing beyond rank ability'.

TLDR: Rank resets after a long spell away from the game might get you a ban. Or is it rank resets, with no time frame needed, that might raise your risk of getting a ban, because somewhere in the algorithm, your previous higher rank and accompany skill level would be seen as 'smurfing' if you ended up in a lower rank and still showed such abilities (ie. bad calibration games, bad teammates etc.) What actually happens? Could someone enlighten me?