Scam is not a reason to stop, if from the start they want to do a scam maybe they will exit earlier so they can cover their tracks. Most projects don't know what to do next, because they don't offer technology or solutions. and lastly, due to lack of funds, it has become an almost frequent problem
Scammers always have a way to make their victims happy before they leave. They do this process because this is their real plan, by running the project half way and then they leave it for some reason, even though they only need money and don't care about investors.
If the fraudulent process is just looking for money and then running away, they will never get additional money again like when registered on an exchange or when they get new investors when the project progress updates.
I prefer projects that have been running before, and then they need more money to expand their power by means of an ICO or IEO, this is less risky because market research has been carried out, the next step is to win market competition.