you should be pretty careful on localbitcoins. there are other
bitcoin exchanges that provide more security
Localbitcoins from experience provides one of the smoothest trading experiences out there. I trust the platform to provide escrow more than major exchanges, since usually their support do not answer on time but LBC support is a lot more responsive.
An audit shouldn't even be necessary, but could be helpful.
This has also been a problem in paxful recently. If you're trading with low trust profiles then never do deals with them from a distance. In person deals for small ammounts can be beneficial for both and also earn them a good amount of trust too before going in distance trades.
Yeah. Well there will be scammers anywhere, even when there is escrow. That's why high rep is always favored.