ICO Scams are things like pre-mine or Airdrops or fake online wallets. This is similar to the cash grab. But usually more sinister and a planned attack on bad or lazy investors. They will sell you some new idea that sounds interesting and you invest in it because of an emotional attachment. The site will look very well made but will have little depth. For example some of the links will be broken or just redirect you to the top of the page. Commonly the site will just be one long page.

Another tell tail sign is not being able to find the developers listed on the team page, you find them by searching google for the names. Sometimes they might not even have a team page listed. Lots of the photos and content on the website almost looks recycled from other websites. The last giveaway is they only ever have hopes and dreams to sell you, no working product or platform that works or can even be tested. So you just have to take their word for it.

Some times ICO Scams can be very hard to spot due to the big budgets the scammer have to work with. This is what makesInitial Coin Offerings so dangerousto invest in.