There's a reason why the US has laws for investing in securities - people without the financial means or experience investing in companies they do not know how to evaluate, will most often lose their money. ICOs that fail are not necessarily scams, but they are not projects that would be backed by an experienced investor, most likely (even they are more often wrong than right, but they have a much better due diligence process). ICOs are a great way to raise funds from the public and are definitely legit, but you need a strong process to not end up investing in a dead end cause.