These types of scams are more commonly known as the " carpet rug being pulled" and this can happen with coins. Pulling the rub basically means the owner of the coin or token stole the money from the users who were HODLing to be never seen again. That's why you need to do due diligence before investing in any shit coins, or new start ups as they could potentially be a rug puller. I, unfortunately, wasn't affected by this.