Rug pulls are a significant risk in the cryptocurrency space, particularly in new or unregulated projects that promise high returns with little transparency. In many cases, rug pulls occur after the project has gained some initial investment, and then the creators "pull the rug" by draining the liquidity pool or abandoning the project, leaving investors with worthless tokens. They are more prevalent in the DeFi space, where new tokens or liquidity pools are created quickly and often lack proper security or auditing.