>thanks to Developer ID, they at least had some kind of payment trail as well as a name, likely making it harder for the same person to get additional certificates
What's preventing me from paying some person in a third world country to get a certificate in his name?
Nothing does. But that person will likely have no loyalty to you, and would give every info he has about you to Apple for an additional $100.
You don't need to be NSA level to hide your tracks there, but it's not trivial either. And Apple is likely to work with the FBI/Interpol about that if whatever evil deeds your software does is sufficiently high profile. Theses guys might also not be good enough to catch you - but they have access to the NSA data for parallel construction, allegedly. And the NSA has incriminating evidence against you.
What's preventing me from paying some person in a third world country to get a certificate in his name?