I posted this list a bit ago that I feel is useful to determine if a coin is a "scam coin" or not.
Did it have an ICO?
Is there a founders reward?
Is there no hard cap on coin creation?
Was there a premine?
Did you learn about it through a paid advertisement?
Does it fail to create a new usage case for crypto?
If the answer to any of those questions is yes then you should probably choose a different coin.