I do not have any idea how the ICO's work nowadays but I do remember that they are such a big hit in 2017 to mid-2018, even during the "crash" of 2018. Many people make good money then and I think many small time investors were able to pick good projects then because there are a lot of good projects during the period. But of course after that crash happened. Bitcoin weakened and less and less ICO happened. There maybe ICOs nowadays but I think they are only a few good ones.
Many developers are offering a ready made sites or ico website that makes it easier for scammers to run a fake ICO project. its hard to detect which one is legit and which one is just using its ICO to scam its investors.