Is their website horse shit?
If their website is poorly designed or not functioning right, then it’s likely their developers and user experience team is horse shit. Last thing you want to risk is a faulty technology and a technology that’s not easy to use. This says a lot about their leadership because they are not leading their team to produce on a high level.
Do they offer any market value?
If the ICO preaches about existing technologies, then they’re not differentiating themselves in the crypo market. Sometimes ICOs are selling, “Just another coin”.
Do they know WTF they are talking about?
Research their team members and message them on LinkedIn if applicable. Go on their community forums and ask questions regarding their technology and their go to market strategy. Sometimes fake ICOs preach how they will incorporate SegWit but can’t explain why that is the means to their success. This relates to step 2, “So you have SegWit, so does Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc.. So what?”
Take a look at a real ICO vs a fake ICO
Compare Atbcoin [Fake] and IOTA [Real].
https://atbcoin.com/docs/ATBCoin_WhitePapper_EN.pdf
https://iota.org/IOTA_Whitepaper.pdf
Dig in for yourself, but first thing on the Atb white paper is “Powered by SegWit”. SegWit is just a particular nickname for a scaling solution in a blockchain’s block size so how the fuck is a coin “powered by SegWit”?