Scamming had always existed long before the Advent of cryptocurrency. Cryptosphere arrival only created another platform to would-be scammers to continue the act, so this is nothing new other than people have to be less greedy and more careful not to get scammed.
Yeah! that's right. Scamming is an old business that existed before any of us were born. But the OP is definitely right about us trying to perform proper assessment before joining any projects.
Also, I believe that in the future as government regulations grow in crypto the rise of scam in crypto will come down.