You shouldn't be making any investments without doing deep research beforehand and that is universally true.  It does appear that ICOs have more than their fair share of risk associated with them though and they are an easy method for scammers to take people's money.

The ICO market is nowhere near as lucrative in recent years and I would look at any investment in them as a speculative long term investment.  Short term success from ICOs just doesn't exist in the current market and it is usually more cost effective to buy on an exchange after they are officially listed.