There are precautions that will help you before taking part in any ICO. The first and most valuable advice to follow when it comes to steering clear ICO scams is always to trust your instincts and use your common sense. If something seems too good to be true, then it's probably a Scam. The unconvincing whitepaper and underdeveloped website this brings us to the next point. You should definitely avoid ICO projects with weak sites or white papers. Legitimate startups will always explain why someone should invest in a project, as well as make an effort to show potential value and some noteworthy plans for the future. Make sure you dig up information about team or developer activity or history in the crypto community on Reddit and other cryptographic websites. Empty or non-existent code repository Even if the website is untouched, even if the project announcements and whitepaper seem legitimate, if there is no code repository then there is no project to start with so you can spend your money and your time elsewhere. Plagiarism This may be the most difficult to discover so far. In the past, there have been several examples where new fraudulent ICOS have completely copied content from other ICOS, including logos and images. Again, diligence, focused research, and the community at large can help you in this regard.