Sure that not every ico a scam because there are many reliable projects as well. To my mind, you should check whether the project is a good one before you take part in it not to lose money
you need to find certain features that will point you to authenticity or to fraud in projects. The fact is that fraudsters are also working on their offspring, in order to attract as many investors as possible and deceive them. Based on this, fraudulent projects also look very attractive.