There are different degrees of a scam.
Some altcoins are outright ponzis or illegal securities
Some altcoins are marketed on lies
Some altcoins are pointless
Some altcoins are interesting but most likely will fail because they lack a network effect and not competitive enough
Some altcoins are memes and temporary fads and will come and go.
Bitcoin is the first of it's kind. The rest of the coins followed suit.
Bitcoin's code is open-source, meaning, anyone can replicate it, and they have done that. Now there are a couple of thousands of these coins.
People are buying altcoins because they hope to make a quick buck out of it because the market is soaring and some are getting 500 to 1000x returns. But you have to understand, it's pure gambling.
MyCryptoParadise