It's simple: if someone doesn't understand something, doesn't understand what it's about, then you don't need to have any connections with what interests them until they figure out the details. Example: a fraudulent project promises incredible profits. A greedy person will immediately decide to invest, without having any experience or knowledge of how to understand exactly what a scam project is or isn't. What is his mistake? That, first of all, he is greedy, stupid, and impatient. Anyone who wants to know about something is not in a hurry; he is careful, he is skeptical, and he parts with his money after checking all the red flags several times. Haste is needed when there are lice in the head. In all other cases, it is necessary to check everything carefully, even with technical and non-technical knowledge.
Many factors contributes to the reasons why people are being scammed, lack of technical knowledge, and another factor is carelessness from an investor because high percentage of losses that people experience is actually their own fault. Like you mentioned when a project come onboard it is important for you to analyze the project critically if it relies mainly on hype or has true potential for growth, you do this by knowing the people in the project team, and their own experience, and expertise in developing such project, finding out such information will save you from getting involved into scam projects.
Another thing is your source of information, on the social media many things happen as some even seek for information on telegram where many are being scammed, and seeking for assistance on social media instead of more reliable source.