How can a file created date be in the past?

The dates of a file, creation & modification, are preserved when moving a file, but not when copying it, as the copied file is regarded as new.

Most compression programs, such as Zip, also keep the dates when zipping the files into the archive, and restore them when unzipping by using the same API calls as you found.

As most installation jobs keep the files they install in some form of a compressed archive, the dates are kept when installing the files by uncompressing them.