[...] who offers his "bro" (maybe his best friend) to act as escrow [...]
Offering an escrow is actually a good sign.
Do you have any reason to believev that DireWolfM14 is his "bro"
and would not act as he is supposed to as an escrow ?
As far as i see, someone wanted to exchange with you. They offered an escrow. And you shouted "SCAM" immediately.
DireWolfM14 is reputable. I don't think he would throw away his reputation and account for 1k.
And instead of proposing a different escrow, you stop the exchange? Is that how you do business ?