Make verification and stick into a project which does have realistic roadmap or goal.
What verification, bro?
Yes, only choose a project with a realistic roadmap and goal. If we see the roadmap is hard to implement or likely fails to run, it is better to not join the project. There are too many projects with a nice goal but ended with an early fail because they make a sweet goal and not consider whether it is possible to implement or not. Or the team deliberately sets a sweet goal to scam people. They only focus on fundraising and collect the money at that stage. Then, once the fundraising or the initial sale phase is over, they will disappear soon.
Scams happen all the time in crypto that's why the industry isn't so healthy when it comes to these scams. This should be the first they put as a feature like escrow to the funds like maybe the funds are put inside the smart contract that will just release the funds when a milestone is achieved. But today the only way is to trust the team. Maybe if there are reliable people behind the altcoin project, the scam could be prevented.