As OP, newbies are always coming during the bullrun season then want to grab new altcoins. Why? Newbies don't see coinmarketcap listed coins or they are here to give money to scammers. Those newbies will make rumors about cryptocurrency in the future. Almost 50-70 percent of newbies will lose money for participating in the new ICO.
There are factors i considered to see if altcoins is a scam or not, first i'll always look for the team composition and search it on the web for their reputation. Second is if it is listed on the exchange its movement is seems movable but trading volume is unidentified, that is the thing to be considered prior investing new altcoins.