What stops indies from using illegal software to build their games?

For mature human adults, the normal sense of fair play and not corroding the fabric of society keeps us actually paying for what we use.
For sociopaths that don’t have this, the risk that malcontent employees or customers may find out and snitch them out may be sufficient pressure.
If not, then no, there’s nothing preventing a sociopathic monster who only cares about him/herself to steal the work of others. Happens all the time.