Also, what would prevent a scammer from paying someone to do the video verify and then use that account in some elaborate, long con?
First: anyone could only once scam someone if they didn't care being on the list
Second: it's your responsibility when dealing with someone and receiving their membership ID and being able to see their photo to verify it again for yourself
The initial verification is only for preventing fake photos being used and preventing a new signup by the same person. Preventing someone using a members ID in an identity theft is done by an on the go individual verification.
So say you as a member want to do business with B, you don't know B, B tells you his also a member of this organization's list of members bound to certain rules, he gives you his ID, you give him yours, you each other either meet in RL or meet in a live video chat to make sure the photos match, boom, now you know you both have agreed to the same rules for which you, because you are still both on the list, you are able to know neither of you has broken yet towards any other member. The list will also show for how long someone is being on it..
Of course if you have only 5 people on the list this is pointless, but imagine if you have a huge community of people on it and you as an outsider can't do business with any of them if you aren't on the list, then it becomes much more significant and you will have a huge incentive to stay on the list if you wanted to continue to do business with that community.