I never been scammed because I simply do not trade or buy things from people that are not having a good feedback or not even have one these days its just so important to be on the look out.
Glad to hear that from a newbie because most of the newbies either scam or get scammed in mostly exchanges threads or lending threads. I would also give credit to the people for advertising this " no escrow no deal " slogan so much that newbies get inspired and hence avoid being scammed. Just I regret when escrow like master-p scammed.