It's not abuse.  It's customary for DT members to neg someone when there's a scam accusation made against them that looks to have some merit to it, which is what happened here.  I'm pretty sure nobody would have a problem removing their red trust against you if you convince them you didn't scam OP.

I agree with you there, though it's currently the only way I have to buy bitcoin at a reasonable price and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that situation.  It kind of sucks that services like Circle no longer exist, ones that make it easy to buy and sell bitcoin with a bank account.

Yep.  I don't know how many times I've heard similar statements like that, but nevertheless I hope this gets resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.