Yes, there are ico's that straight up steal your money.
With a minimum amount of research you can spot these a mile away.
Most icos aren't a straight up scam but a result of an incompetent team, a shit product or even a product that hasn't been made yet, no development, mismanagement of funds, and on and on.
You know, problems that failed businesses all have in common.
Approach an ico like a real investor, not a wishful thinker who hopes, "This will make me a millionaire by next year!!!"
Would you give your money to a company that has little to no experience, has grammatical errors on their page, doesn't have a development roadmap, copies others projects or ideas, asks you to invest but keeps most of the wealth of the company to themselves, doesn't have anything to show for their work, won't communicate with you in a professional way? etc?
You're totally right in the fact people are just giving these projects way too much money..it's just getting crazy.
Do your research and invest through using that.