when in fact they just rugpulled in a sense that they took the money and did absolutely nothing to better the project.
This happened with many projects true. They raised the money, went bankrupt and simply disappeared.
I have to say it is a bit our fault as well, where did this "pay some guys to build a good coin" idea started from? Back in the day you would have to work really hard, and build something new, and you released it, nobody paid you, maybe you held some coins of your own, but that was about it.
There is a group of investors who are over-enthusiastic about such projects. They want to invest in every new innovation, feasible practically or not, something like a gamble. That gambling mindset is what brings in the market of such projects. Hence the influx of scam projects ready to scam investors off their money.
But this is easy to prevent, if the investor is a diligent one. They would stick to ones that are time-tested and stress-tested and keep their portfolio limited to those only.