It was obvious when these ICOs started popping up that most will just die. They tried it in 2014. They called it 100% premine, wasn't a big hit. Other than ripple.
Personally I think one should understand the code also to know if they should invest in ICOs. I don't, so I don't invest in any ICO. They can write whatever in the whitepaper, but ICOs by definition are things where you pay before you see anything happening.
And most have died. If you aren't able to perform deep research, then its best to stay away like you said here.