This is one example of scam project(Grain.io):
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bountyico-grainio-the-backbone-of-modern-work-agreements-2779618It seemed so great on paper, CEO was skilled and have been working in Microsoft for years, idea was great, softcap was reached etc etc.
Then when token distribution time came, they gave excuse and delayed distribution for few months. Everibody were ok with that because project seemed good and it had "great future".
Then they delayed it few months more, then few more. Everybody on telegram group were asking where are the tokens, and telegram group admin assured everyone that everything will be distributed but with a delay, because CEO told him that.
But after some time CEO stopped to communicate with Telegram group manager too. That aroused some suspicion in him, and when he told that he was banned form group
Then CEO gave some shitty excuses why tokens were not distributed (to investors and bounty hunters), and told that project will MAYBE succeed lol.
After that he locked telegram group and webpage expired. Investors wasted their money and bounty hunters their time. Money disappeared "somewhere". End of story.
Unfortunately the scenario that you are describing is very common, I know because I have seen that scenario playing itself right before my eyes, sometimes I decide to follow projects in which I have not invested just to see if I can find a worthwhile project, and what you are describing happens all the time, and it is something that I find strange, after all how difficult it can be to distribute coins to their legitimate owners?
If there is any delay in the distribution of the tokens that should be a sign for concern for anyone that is invested in the project, I say this because I have seen projects that are still around that have not distributed their coins to their investors in more than a year.