I think there are many things that should be specified here. For one, does the regulation protect people in which ways? If one loses the private key, even if cryptos are regulated in this country nothing can be done. A scam is a tricker thing. Sometimes scammers in countries that regulate cryptos are caught, in other situations, they aren't. But I believe that sometimes they're caught even if cryptos aren't regulated (because a scam is a scam). It depends on the case, the judge, and the legislation system. Finally, regulations can be different! Some might just allow to use cryptocurrencies and specify some requirements and circumstances, others might go deeper than that. In the end, I think that the answer is 'it depends', but it's more likely that people are protected when there are regulations than when there aren't any.