Bitcoin Forum

Hello everyone,
Recently scam ICOs are growing rapidly and it has become a severe problem among the investors and bounty participators. Can you guys please tell me how to detect them ?

There is no single strategy for accurately detecting fraud. But you can avoid very dubious ones. Pay attention to the following things:
- MVC – it's good is a team is already working on a product.
- Team – read about their previous projects, skills. Communicate with them directly to know them better.
- Advisors – they should have some experience in ICO projects and good reputation.
- Whitepaper – technical details credibility, reliability of estimates, absence of excessive expectations. Perspective of the idea itself. If you do not understand this yourself, contact the expert.
- Advertising and scale of the project. Pay attention to how much effort and money the team spent on the project. How long-term are their plans. How many languages are supported, how wide the audience is covered, how active the team interacts with users.

It is quite difficult because lately scam ico develop website, create white paper and they also make everything perfect too

I think you just have to watch closely the timings of the bonus

If there are huge bonuses or exorbitant giveaways
I think you can wary

If they don’t host or go to any Blockchain program or interviews or series of such
You need to wary too

today it is very difficult to recognize Scam Ico. first comes the pre-sale. then they have some money and make big advertising for the ICO. they buy good websites and people think it is a great project. all people buy this token and a hype arises. so quickly 20-30 million dollars come together. and when ICO is finished they disappear with the money and write.....we have been hacked  ;D

Now there is really a lot of ICOs crooks and they are quite difficult to detect. Be sure to check out people from the team, carefully read the paper. You need to spend a lot of time before investing.

The best thing that you can do is to review the ICOs whitepaper, check the eligibility of the team, check each members profile and back ground. However, lately there are good ICOs that turned out to be scam. So, it is difficult to tell which one is legit and which one is scam.

They are better and better in their scams, we don`t even notice until its all over and team took the money and disappear. Better scams can be fully checked and to not give any clues that its a scam. They cover all basis and its hard to notice them.
I trust this forum as the best place for checking icos and all tokens, some people have knowledge about teams, they know them personally, and its great when some vip`s vouch for ico. No matter how deep we check there is always risk, be aware of that.

Today it is extremely hard to perceive Scam Ico.The best thing that you can do is to survey the ICOs whitepaper, check the qualification of the group, check every part profile and back ground. Notwithstanding, of late there are great ICOs that ended up being trick. Along these lines, it is hard to tell which one is genuine and which one is trick

As for me, the best way of detecting scam ICOs is studying the team that stands behind the project.
If they have already participated in successful ICOs that means you could trust the project.
Personally I've made a list of project teams - a "portolio" I can always refer to when I choose what ICO to participate in.
You could do the same  ;)

It is difficult to detect whether the ICO is a scam or not. As I've seen most of the ICO's scams their promotion system is purely drawing and lack of transparency, no product, and poor of well-experienced advisors.

It's really complicate. But a easy way first you can read through their Whitepaper and focus on two thing: what they could solve and most important is the team behind. Many scam ICO use a fake linkedin profile with a PTS picture of the team, so you need checking carefully this section.

Not a single manual available but as you stated above, a great deal of DYOR and praying for luck because a project can tick all the right boxes and yet don't well when its coin hits the exchanges. Again, it's hard to tell which projects are genuine or scam. Good luck to us all

This is the saddest truth of the new ICO's. I'ts hard to predict on some token how they going to be on the market  :(

There is no solid method to find scam ICO's and many times we can just analyse them depending upon the basic stuff like their whitepaper, roadmaps and different documents that they provide. This gives us idea about their vision, project idea and how unique the project is! If it is unique one and never had been over the market then it becomes little promising but not 100%.

You can do checkout different aspects of the ICO during its bounty programs. I mean whether the project is getting huge buzz or not, whether their social channels are getting natural response or not and many stuff like that can define their confidence. Thus, you have some option to look after but they dont guarantee the 100% legit identification. Good luck.

First of all ask them if they're trying to scam people. Second ask them a proof or legitimacy of the project. Inspect the white paper and the term of use of the site of the project. background check the developer team of the project, ceo, co founder , business management, advisors and managers etc.

In addition to everything that was suggested before me I would like to share this service - https://icocheck.io/ People are submitting all found info through github and try to create a full picture of top projects with "real" advantages/disadvantages. Anyone can suggest his thoughts, this is one of the best ways to check a project.

To detect scam icos it is so much better if you try to look for the project itself. If it sounds like a fraud or anything that is not attainable, then stay away automatically. It's hard to give a lot of trust for that.

it is very difficult to determine the ICO scam or not because many ICO make a website or white paper perfectly, for that I suggest if you want to invest in ICO should first see how its development while joining the telegram and see who the team who are in the project

Methods of fraud are diverse: from elementary fake projects that disappear after a successful ending to phishing tricks and hacking. Initially, you need to understand - ICO is a high risk. Always look at the design of the project site, assess the feasibility of the project, check the legal entity

There has been a lot of scams ICO. Sometimes reading their whitepaper and website is not enough to detect which one are legit. In my observation most of the legit ICO has lots of exposure and theyre attending or meeting up Blockchain summits and events. Of course I do not forget to pray first, asking God which are not scam ICOs?

This is my investigation to detect or prevent scam ICO.

The team behind it.
What is the product/project all about.
Transparency
Realistic answers from questions
Exposure to events/ Blockchain summit
None/poor advisors, it might be a scam.

When the project already has a solid company or partnerships its absolutely not a scam.

 This is not always so simple, as it appears to be... Sometimes a scam ICO is doing all the things willingly to show themselves as good one

Almost nothing is sure to detect a scam project, sometimes some projects that we think are scam, it is very profitable, and vice versa, some projects that we think good, it turns out a scam

very interesting and relevant topic.  I will be grateful to everyone for useful advice.  I myself do not know how to distinguish scammers, I hope that I come across honest bounty company.

1) Cheap Website
2) Any problems with Linkenid from CEO
3) Bad photos of the team
4) The idea is described without details
5) The ICO name has the word " Crypto"

Until quite recently you could distinguish between scam and non-scam ICOs looking through their whitepapers and website, but now swindlers have learned to create fake and believable whitepapers and websites. So now to stay safe - always look through the team, if you see that those people took part in other projects, which weren't scams - you can rely on them. And also remember the rule - never invest more money, than you can afford to lose.

You have to be very careful and attentive. You should carefully study the information on the project and a white sheet. You need to read the reviews.

It is a very hard sometimes even for a really qualified investors, so you question will never get a proper answer as there are many way to define a good ICO

I would not trust a brand new ICOs which appeared like a few days ago. You should better wait for somebody to use it and then see

Unfortunately, even if you have looked through the whitepaper very carefully, it does not mean that ICO is not a scam. What about talking to people in community?

Some technical points as you have mentioned before can really be a good hint that it is a scam and you should not trust them

Some website trifles can be good hints for you to stop and think twice. It is like a strange website, for example. And listen to your inner voice

That's a really good answer. I always check the projects in terms of fraud. First of all I look at the team. If the team is good, then the project has a future

I always see tokensale on a few days, where now this sales will continue to influence whether ico project will be successful or not. so when sales start slowing down and not reaching softcap at some time before tokensale ends it is surely a scam.

Yes, nowadays there are a lot of scams which is affecting the trade and the investors. For this you should read the papers very carefully and you should be very serious each and every moment through this you can avoid scams.

This is a problem that must be solved and this is in everyone's interest. The amount scam has been growing every month and in my opinion the standard for find out easily whether it is a scam or not is the level of promise, when there is an exaggerated amount of promises and resources, we should become suspicious. Another factor is the delivery time of the product, this may be relative but normally the longer the term the greater the chance of a scam.

It is not simple to identify good tailored spam. I preferer to research Team of ICO. And I think that ICO not scam, If team is real and number of team memebers over 10

everyone has their own method of assessing an ICO, whether it is a SCAM or not,
but in my experience, the basic thing that affects ICO, SCAM or not is the team,
I am always critical and thorough in judging a team, because they are using investors' money

The scam ICO can usually be seen from the non-disclosure of the developer team in answering questions. They will cover up weaknesses or problems. While the ICO who want to open usually want to hold a live AMA (Ask Me Anythings). But this is not a guarantee, because it could also affect other factors.

Yes I agree , most of the fake ICO's that I've known are very confidential they wont disclose the team member they just propose you a project that full of false promises , Whitepaper has lot of grammatical flaws and lot of suspicious things that they will just ignore if you ask them better to stay away on those kind of ICO's.

There is no special way. My way is to check the white paper, team, ICO rating and community activity.

In addition to everything that was suggested before me I would like to share this service - https://icocheck.io/ People are submitting all found info through github and try to create a full picture of top projects with "real" advantages/disadvantages. Anyone can suggest his thoughts, this is one of the best ways to check a project.

I believe you have a good post but you must be referring to MVP which stands for Minimum Viable Product and not MVC which doesn't make any sense.

To add, I would say that having a professional website is an easy indicator of a scam ICO. By professional i mean nothing fancy or too loud with so much special effects. A website that focuses on simple and straightforward content is best for me.

Bitcoin is the best crypto currency of all time but the is scam about ISO which impact on the crypto market and this is an bad impression for crypto market also. Bitcoin does not rely on others and it is not really bothered regarding others. Bitcoin only functions for its traders.

which I know to know the ICO's that scam we can see the project we are following well or not we can see the white papper and its project team because the ICO's scam project is in effect because many investors are taking funds from people who want to follow the ICO project

For me this is a lesson for me. one time I've experienced things related to scam. from there I learned that, not just any decision-making. I have much to consider. starting from product, team, rating, progress of the project and many more

there is no other ways then knowing the game perfectly, you have to research more and learn. dig down as much you can, learn about the Team check their history, communicate with them. make Whitepaper is you bookmark. learn it before you earn it. :o :(

Scams ncan hardly be recognised now a days. They make so many posts which affect the price of crypto currency market. But, you'll see some long negetive posts without any valid links. Most of them are scams. However, steps need to be to eradicate them. ::) ::)

It's very difficult nowadays to detect which ICOs are scammy and which are not. You have to closely observe them at first. Observe the team, study the paper and then make a proper decision.

Fast way to detect scam ICO is search avatar of team, found linked profile, copy and search everywhere in whitepaper of they (because most people don't check whitepaper when they invest project), then check community

I think its pedends the handle of the ico. Much better just research first befor you entry the ico or join or invest . Read a white paper and if the white paper is good . The ico is good.

do not blame ico, blame yourself wrong choosing ico, i suggest before buying ico, better you browse first, who is the team and what is their project, if it is so, you know which ico is true and not true

always check on their whitepaper, team, roadmap, and their team linkedin. and more important you should check on their telegram group for their ICO progress, you should ask if they didnt update anything about their progress.

I think it's hard. Now ICO fraudsters are meticulously laying out their scams and making everything look like they are true. Their white papers, websites, teams, consultants are all complete, but they are also fake. So I personally invest very little in ICO now. This is the simplest and most effective way to avoid being cheated.

Hi, you have to follow the community you will know real quick compare to the real project

I find it very difficult to determine a genuine ICO project or a scam. But, you can start by checking the white paper and the existence of the site. Then, you can check the team and its advisors, whether experienced or not. Next, you analyze the benefits of the project and the extent of its potential to grow. Things get tough, now cheats are increasingly seen not as frauds, so should be more careful in making decisions.

I think there should have project that will stop the fake ICO in order to detect them. By that kind of project they can be able to detect and notice cthe scam ICO in crypto. It is much better crypto market if the stop the fake will give everyone a warn.

what about ICO project without telegram group chat, I participate bounty in some project but there is no telegram chat group,
they only have telegram channel and then all of them is SCAM :o
I do not know if this is just a coincidence or it can be one factor to detect a scam project or not.

You can detect scam ico by view their team and the owner of ico. Many owner have using fake data to keep their data itself. They are using another person information for thei ico and we can see at the source of hosting using by their ico website. Many fake we can find at the scam ico, if you are smart and know about hosting and domain work you will know about the ico scam or trust. Which you can prticipated or not.

Scam ICOs are usually similar then other projects because they actually didn't have anything without copying others. So that means they only want to base on other efforts to earn money for their personal purpose.

It is quite hard to detect if the ICO is a scam But still we can try. I will suggest people to go through their white paper thoroughly. Besides do a research on the members of the ico. These may help to find the scam icos.

It is not enough just to understand an ICO through white papers and teams. They will buy white papers, create fake team lists, So you need to further analyze whether their projects are feasible and whether their roadmaps are realistic.

You can see the white paper, its vision and mission, and most importantly the ceo and the support team or team that joined behind because it is very influential on the success of ico, and if it fails can be a scam.
this is just in my experience.

Firstly they make a good website for connecting with people .when people are think this project is good for them then they started invest on this project. When ICO fulfill their profit they finished.

You can never 100% sure that the ICO is not a scam even they have a MVP (demo, alpha or beta release) or have a solid team and advisors.
But of course, a MVP, a good team, and very known advisors reduce the risk. This is one of the reason for the government regulations for the ICO

Normally it will be the team and advisors background check the item that will give you the best reference to detect scams. Small teams, no videos, no public appearances,... all that is a serious symptom.

It has usually a suspicious ANN thread and white paper as compared to those legit one. There are some times that concerned citizens puts link or news on comment if they see something wrong on the ICOs. Its hard to detect this days given the fact that there are hundreds of ICOs existing and there are hundred more comming up.

The truth is?most of the time they are more look legits than those real one i don know how they manage to do such but expertise is what make this possible

Maybe you must learn about this ico first by checking this

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3534750.0

Here's what I pay attention to first:
-Idea.Do we need blockchain and decentralization in this or that industry?
-Team. In particular look at of advisers(whether they really are relevant to the project or not)
-Use the token in this project
-How active the project is being discussed in chat rooms and on Bitcoin Talk . Those are the highlights.

There has been a lot of scams ICO.  reading their whitepaper and website is not enough to detect which one are legit. In my observation most of the legit ICO has lots of exposure .

 If the airbot will ask you about your private key then i can say that its a scam because there is no airbot in an ico will ask you your private key.

 I only know three ways to detect ICO and I always use this way,
First, find out the website. locate the WHOIS information for the domain and check to see if the logging domain and other login information make sense. You can also access websites such as whitepapers, search for plagiarized content with google and remove techno-babbling.
second, whitepaper. the best way to find a fake whitepaper is to ask someone with technical knowledge to vomit.
third, the role team. the easiest way to check back whether members are just looking for their name in linked and google. If you are still in doubt, you can contact the team member or the relevant discussion. there is no guarantee you will get an answer, of course.

Lol  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D this is so true and but funny though.

Yes that is the truth about ico's but keep in mind that there were no scammers if there were no idiot and dumb people that puts their money elsewhere. We can combat these scammers only we unite and decide not to invest on every ico that we came across, instead we will rather invest only on the most trusted crypto coins like bitcoin and etherium  because these is the only way that we can be safe and to earn a secure profit as well.


Detecting scam ico might be hard nowadays due to their massive number. better avoid all ico to ensure your safetyness.

It was very easy my friend. You just need is common sense, what the first you will do to get sure is by analyzing the whole project. The involvement of everyone if it is trustworthy or not. The reliability of its platforms and team and how good it is.

I think the scammer is now very difficult to detect early. If the developer is using an experienced manager about ico marketing it can be ascertained by his manager. but this is not an obstacle to ensuring every search is under investigation. try to always try to analyze, read white paper, find out the truth of team and developer. even more on the official business site ico.

reading is the key to knowledge, before plunging into ICO you should read the vision and mission and the products they do in ICO. do a conversation with the ICO team and join the telegram to better know in detail the ICO that has been done.

It's very difficult to recognize Scam Ico. Not at all a lot of money is a website, They even offer projects. Who prefers to do scam ico will do it like this. First there is a preliminary sale. then they have money and great advertising for ICO and people think that this is an excellent project.

It is hard to detect scam ICO.
If it was easy many peoples wouldn't get scammed.
Luckily i haven't participated on scam ico.

Also, social networks of the project: they should be informative, interesting and properly managed. I would add the quality of the website, the feedbacks of the mass media and the ratings on ICO listings.

you need to see first about the purpose of that token, make sure that its good and real, and then you can join the group and read about people think about this project, and then you can see the rodmap, roadmap is the main part of the project, see that the roadmap is make sense and no bullshit on it

The whitepaper is a copy, the website is cheap, and low quality, offering irreal bonuses just to get in, members, and advisers are not real people. Just some thought, what make me stay away.

Be sure to pay attention to the team, it should be people with a reputation in the cryptomir, as well as professionals of their business, and then contact with people and clarify whether their names use the skamers without their knowledge.

Usually ICO scam provides an unreasonable bonus, If you find ICO that gives unreasonable bonus, you should be careful if you want to invest in follow it

Verify the founders are fairly well known is a good start.

I discovered fraud in a simple way. I took a few photos of the project team and searched the picture. The names in the team and in the search results did not match. It is clear that the photos were fraud, like the whole project.

I think for 100% accurate it is difficult.
but many ways to detect them one of them is the revenue target does not match the idea that it takes.

There are ways to detect if an ICO is a scam, you have to look to their website if its professionally made, with a clear road map towards success of the company. They must have a dedicated team with continuous support to their clients. They should not have a to good to be true offers, because other investors might invest immediately with big return in a short period of time.

Most of the ICOs come up out of no where and starts scamming naive people by promising them good fortune. Tons of ways to detect scammy ICOs. First of all you will see that they keep on saying and focusing that their tokens will rise "n" number of times in the future. They keep on boasting this so that they can get people attention and use greed to attract them. Secondly, look for ICOs that have good and well known development team. A renowned dev is unlikely to scam someone. Also look for projects that are unique but still makes sense and achievable. Most of the projects are just "all talk". They can't even come up with a working platform.

Yes, you are right now there are a lot of fraudulent ICO projects on the market. You need to be very careful and spend a lot of time analyzing the project before investing in it. You must carefully examine the white paper! (it is very important). You should also pay attention to the people who are in the project team, they should have a good reputation.

so many ico are coming daily in the market but most of them scam and fake ico . so before you join any ico campaign or invest any new ico try check company road-map, project hype and demand , read whitepaper, and join must company main telegram group .

Every commentator is suffering in here, answering this question billions of times. You may look at exactly the same topics, or here I will just tell you that the team behind an ICO is the key.

Why am I investing in ICO Vireo? Because it is a reliable ans successful project. I know that investing in this ICO will be a great way to get a good profit! Try it!

Lately very difficult precisely to define that the ICO project is fraud.
One of criteria on fraud definitions which I use is check of members of the team on reality.
If after check it turns out that the team consists of fakes, then I don't participate in this project.

you are very right that most of us can monitor the team but not only that, we can see about the project or we see roadmap and whitepaper

I hate when people are saying about it is easy to define the scam ICO. It is not at all- nowadays there are so many professionals who are turning illegal staff into legal. 

ico partly is a fraud. when they promise with the roadmap but what proof does not work. big chicks ico great success is also doing fraud. whether we have nothing wrong to be wary of it

Here are my steps in detecting Scam ICO or  I'd rather say ICO which will not succeed in the future.

1. Team members background has low fundamental background. New to entrepreneurship.
2. Red flag to team members who was involved in past pyramiding businesses like bitconnect and other lending platforms.
3. Poor whitepaper
4. there is no clear roadmap and vision
5. They just focus on ICO money.

look at the whitepaper and the team that runs the ICO. If it is reasonably assured and there is no awkwardness, mean that the ICO certainly real and worthy to be used as investment advice. Indeed actually hard to learn and it's also not a sure way to convince. but at least it's been trying to figure out where the ICO scam and not.

You cannot detect or determine a fraud ICO until you look for some review about the ICO it is hard to find.
But here are some of my ways on how I look on the ICO.
◽️Check their team if the member have done a project or if their are newbies.
◽️Check their ICO rating
◽️Check their whitepaper
◽️Check their roadmap

What are listed is just my steps on how I can figure out if the ICO is scam or not. You can also read some threads here about the scam ICO some are listing it here.

The best way to avoid Crypto scams is to do a lot of research. Don't just look on page one of Google, look on pages 2, 3, and 4. Also check them out on Facebook and Twitter, see if they have legitimate followers, or are they bought from other countries.

It not that easy to detect a scam ICO but you need to go through their whitepaper and know what the project is all about and to understand what brings about the project and also check maybe this not their first project and to know more about the manager because some managers are well known that they don't deal with a dead project, then you can carry on.

You should directly see that an ico is a scam when you want to visit an ico review and to know their review result. But if you want a full depth  review, you can see if they had already have an mvp. Make sure also to verify the team and to see their tokens smart contract if its valid. Also ask your group on what they can see on that ico. Sometimes the opinion on others can open up your mind.

One of the ways I often use to validate the of an ico project is "Proof of concept". You can talk to them about it. Before or during the ICO. If they can publicize it. It is worth investing in your money or vice versa. It is not a way to define or evaluate ico. But to me, it brings great peace of mind when investing in ico.

Man, here you are 1000% right! It is incredibly difficult to understand if this ICO is a scam or not. If before all recommended to look through the whitepaper attentively, now these documents are always OK in each ICO.

Scam ICOs are hard to detected. Honestly until now I don't now how to now it well which one is scam or no, because sometimes a scam ICO is doing all the things willingly to show themselves as good one. Everyone has their own method of assessing an ICO, and for me i would not easy to trust a new ICO, it will be better put my trust in to an old ICO and there are a lot of people use it, and the ICO can be proofed with real project.

Very difficult to detect. Even the hype ICO's are able to run off with everyone's money if they chose to do so. Luckily it doesn't happen that often and most people already got out since at some point it should be possible to detect a scam. However, even when they do not run away with your money (the obvious scam where the website and everything else is suddenly gone) they can still scam you. How about an ICO where team gets 50% and 30% is sold with absurd bonuses. You could call this a scam too and though many will stay away, many others will fall for it....

The only thing you can do is do heavy research into the project.

Ask questions, read their white paper, see how the community responds to them, work out the value in their project and token. If there is anything that seems a little shady, move onto another project.

You can try a lot of techniques, templates and tips. You can't fool intuition. Trust her and you'll never make a mistake. And if you make a mistake, then she does not have enough experience and it is necessary to recruit.

Although, this might be difficult, but there are ways to detect scam ICO. There are times that some of these ICOs claim what they are not. I think the easiest way is to properly investigate what they claim they are or that they do and confirm if it is true.

First check the team and the project itself, then look for the concept and clues in the network. Further study the white paper, and then he cryptotoken. And in the process of all this, try to find out whether the token will be supported in the future, after the fundraising.

The criteria for fraudulent projects are considered to be the lack of certain information, as well as the impossibility of its confirmation or direct refutation of the data submitted by the authors. Providing false data to users for the purpose of collecting funds without subsequent fulfillment of obligations determines scam as the main risk of investing in ICO.

For me its hard to detect the scammer because they act also as a real one, this is only my advice don't trust anybody here and always be an observer anytime, if you have doubt in one member here you can check his profile and check where he always put his posting this will help you to know the information about this guy but not exactly to find a scammer.

Well, if you have even a one percent of uncertainty about joining an ICO, or anything such related- then do not get in there. Professionals are underlining some points, as: ratings, market gap, team behind, concept, whitepaper. Good luck, fighting, hehe.

In the first stages, it is very difficult to determine scam projects. Therefore, you have to accept that you can not get anything for your work.

To avoid fraudulent ICO, you need to first check the organizers of the project and links to their official accounts in social networks, so that there are confirmations about participation in the project.

There is not particular way to actually detects if an ico is a scam but their are some red flags you could see and you will suspect, for me I normally check the ico team, if they are hiding their team members, then it is a red flag for me, If i search the google and find no video or interview of any of the team members speaking about the project then it is also another red flag for me, i will avoid it.

It is hard to detect or determine fraud ICO's or ICO's that were set to scam people. You wont know it until the last minute because to earn money, they need to at least invest their talents to make people believe that what they are launching or campaigning for is real and legit. I guess the gut feeling of the person joining that ICO will decide what is good for himself.

 It's easy. If the Project just talking and doing nothing taht is definetly scam. Check the Cryptics- relly nice project. I have been posted the info in the same Topic

It takes a lot of experience to identify a fraud, and it's hard to judge whether this project is a fraud. I think the social media dynamics of this project are as much as possible to judge the project.

I think that any ico can cheat even though it has good information. So luck is always the first factor when investing in a certain ico.
You should carefully study the information on the project and a white sheet. You need to read the reviews.

First you refer the ico’s ratings. I highly recommended the icodrops website. There team is very impressive and smart.   
If there ratings satisfied do your ratings

Log to telegram app and shoot questions about vision and etc.
See the road map
When they going to lauch the main net and test net.

Please refer those

There is no universal way to find out scams. If the scam is done well, it will look like the best project. There are obvious signs, for example, using someone else's photos in the team section. But this happens very rarely.

Here are some advises: https://icoguide.com/en/blog/choosing-an-ico-common-pitfalls-of-scam-icos it should be useful!

Research and luck are the key factors in determining whether a particular ICO is legit or scam. You need to research the ICO that you are interested in based on various factors like development team experience, social media interactions by the development team, whitepaper analysis, regular github updates etc which will help in differentiating between a legit and scam ICO. Luck is also essential here since research does help, but does not always guarantee success.

Did you say recently? Were you just born last year? I don't mean to be rude but there are many reports in the past years on how much money have been scammed in ICOs in either a slow or quick way so please research them.

May disagree, because there are some universal methods exactly. As you said that photos can be stolen - it is really easy checkable information, also team members provide their personal information like LinkedIn account, FaceBook, Twitter and others, and if they are real, there is less chance to be scammed. Also check information about the website, recheck if team had mentioned participation in previous projects, see github, and so on.
I prefer to go another way - I don't need to prove that ICO is scam because they all are scam for me :D I prove that ICO is NOT a scam, spot good ICO that use escrow for example. If I found good(not "not bad") I can invest

Transparency of the token allows investors to decide whether to invest their funds or not. If the ICO refuses to provide data on the sale of tokens, this is a sign that its team is hiding something and possibly pursuing fraudulent goals.

You need to make sure if they have a working prototype and well-written codes in their github.

I would recommend to pay attention to these factors: they should have a good Whitepaper, read it scrupulously, cause some ICO just steal somebody's else Whitepaper and just change the name of the project. They have to have MVP on their website, cause lots of projects like to write how cool they are, but don't have anything except these pompous words. Their employees should have profiles on Linkedin, for example, cause scammers are afraid of revealing their personality and often they whether don't have any profiles of steal somebody's photos. I was written by one scammer who had a woman's photo and man's name. Check their groups on the different social networks, they should be active and not filled with bots and fakes. Check their profile on GitHub. Take a lool at Cryptics - forecasting platform which does use 100% AI. Their project does satisfy with all these requirements.

A working prototype is one of the most important things for understanding that the ICO is a scam or not. Even a scam ICO can have a prototype but the probability is very low.