Not to mention that the whole thing was being observed by media, amateur radio operators, amateur astronomers and such, around the world. If it were faked, there would have been a lot of middle class hobbyists calling bullshit, let alone the international community with state resources at their disposal.

If I could pick up signals from the ISS with a handheld radio, some nerd with a satellite dish was definitely listening in on the communications. The is a whole category of affluent hams who do EME shit. They have privately operated antenna arrays so sensitive they can receive a signal which is being bounced off the surface of the moon. It would require much less to receive a signal being transmitted directly from the Moon's surface.