He was trying to buy bitcoin while using an on-forum escrow, so I just can't see where the scam attempt is. Anyone see anything that I'm missing?
Yes. He disputes the wire transfer after the escrow releases the coin.
Wire transfers
cannot be reversed in most cases, and doing so is not trivial as it is to dispute a PP or a credit card payment.
Obviously a sender of a wire transfer can take the recipient to court if he wants to claim he was defrauded, but that is also true for all other payment methods.