It happened to me. I am the developer of a joke extension [1] that got reported for abuse one too many times, and Google took my developer account off the Web Store, then they sent me an email about it [2], stating that it was breaking a policy that it simply wasn't.
I replied to them explaining the situation [3], and they reinstated my developer account (and that extension) within 4 days [4]. Still, if they had "carefully reviewed" my case and decided against me, I may have had my primary source of income (developing Chrome extensions) taken away from me because of a joke extension.
No, nobody has purchased that app. A few people have purchased a $5 recipe app that I made, but nobody has purchased the $999 joke app. If they did, I'd feel really bad and offer them a refund.