I personally do not believe this statistics that 99% of ICOs are scam, because some ICOs fail do not mean they are all scam. I usually tell people that starting an ICO is like starting a new business, it might succeed immediately, it might fail presently but have a great future and it might fail totally beyond redemption. So because a project is failing to perform presently or fail totally do not mean it is a scam. Don't get me wrong here, I never said there are no scam projects but the rate is not as high as alleged. Judging a project based on its first few years is wrong, give it time to realize its potentials.
I would tend to believe that 99% is low there should be some numbers after a decimal as well. It's not equivalent to starting a business not even close. I would equate an ICO like someone on the side of the road with a company sign signifying they are a company and then ask every passer by for money to start his business. ICOs are the backend of crypto and crypto will be better off once ICOs or IEOs or whatever cease to exist.
What you've mentioned is right, an ico is like standing alongside of the road and requesting the passerby for money to start the business. This is what followed even by the leading cryptocurrencies in the top order. In this regard I find it common practice, and during the early stages it doesn't looked to be different. Now it looks like a way of scamming, when there is something unique in the project automatically there is success whether it is IEO based or ICO based doesn't matter at all.