If we talk about ICO, I have some tips: ask yourself a few question and make a right decision:
Is the website of a high quality?
Is the team for real?
Is the whitepaper professionally written?
Are the ICO’s goals realistic?
Don’t forget about the code
Unfortunately, that does not means give us guarantee that we can avoid the scam ICO. Because everything that you mentioned can deceive us and investors.
The best way to protect ourselves from scams is to stay away from ICO projects. May do Bounty or Airdrop to earn free tokens but shouldn't spend your capital to invest on them.
Of course, we should not be easily tempted by their offer and we have to do some research about the potential and the risk of the project.