the way it works is that an scammer who has some knowledge of copy pasting code starts a new altcoin and fools others to pay him as ICO and then releases the copy paste altcoin and enjoys the money he has earned,
there are lots of legit and genuine altcoins working around here. and they are really honest with their coin and the investors. see the example of ICONOMI, they are working hard and developing everything on the time.
Many people are making huge profits from altcoins because they do great research before investing into it, if you follow the same then the chances of getting scammed will be reduced.
Greatly reduced and more profit will happen. The problem with others is they dont think before they invest. I happen to do that when I was starting but I learned now.