this is not blatant scam?

If you want to buy using a trusted escrow, we are happy to do so.
Seriously? Who? And they will hold each other's coins for how long? At which price? locked until the actual Ether release?
c'mon, jeeeezuz ...

Cant wait for an official statement by the actual Ethereum dev team.
See the 1st post for details. The Escrow provider will hold the BTC and ETC, and only forward the BTC once the ETC is converted into real ethers. We're willing to work with the buyers' own escrow providers as long as they're reputable.