You all have the list OP to check and I believe that it was enough to know a legit project or not. But also you have to remember that not all projects that have a very good start will also likely have an amazing journey because some of them also get lost. The risk can't be lost because at any time of the day it can be changed also. That is why choosing the right coin needs to be (almost)perfect to avoid losses to our ends. But that is difficult when you are not familiar with the market and also when you are new to this. We don't need to be rush and lastly, we don't need to be FOMO. These things could save us from losing.
everyone already knows what they have to do. but investors or bounty hunters who are looking for new projects are sometimes or more lazy to do everything the OP says. they prefer to follow friends or people they trust more than doing their research.