$0.00

🛋️ Unemployed

Global basic income — paid for existing

Earning $1/hour — salary accrues every second.

New arrivals

Portable Power Station 300W

01 / 03

thescam.shop — a fake online store that satisfies the urge to shop

Catalog (138 items)

A fake online store that satisfies the urge to shop

thescam.shop is a free shopping simulator — a fake storefront where you start out Unemployed on a global basic income, invent a name and take a pretend job whenever you like, collect your salary on the home page or portfolio, and “buy” whatever you want. You get the full shopping experience: browsing, a real cart page, checkout, shipping, payment, order tracking and a portfolio with the impact you avoided. What you don’t get is a credit card bill, a delivery, or any waste. It all happens locally in your browser.

The thrill of shopping, zero consequences.

Why use a pretend shop?

Fulfil the urge to shop

Get the dopamine hit of browsing, carting and checking out without the financial stress or the buyer’s remorse.

Spend exactly $0

You start on a global basic income and earn a pretend salary. Treat yourself as often as you like — your real bank account never notices.

Create zero waste

No packaging, no shipping emissions, no returns, no landfill — and your portfolio totals up the CO₂e, water, materials and paper you didn’t cause.

What you can do in the store

  • Start on a global basic income — no job required
  • Invent a name (or roll a random one) and take a pretend job with its own salary
  • Watch a live salary accumulate and claim it on the home page or portfolio, or work overhours for a stacking bonus
  • Browse a catalog with career-locked items and discounts
  • Fill a real cart page with “customers often buy these together” suggestions
  • Choose shipping, pay with a fake balance and track your “delivery”
  • Revisit your orders and browse your portfolio
  • See the CO₂e, water, packaging and materials you didn’t cause
  • Shop in 13 currencies, including Bitcoin, with live exchange rates

Frequently asked questions

What is thescam.shop?
thescam.shop is a fake online store — a shopping simulator, currently in early alpha. You start out Unemployed on a global basic income, and can give yourself a name and take a pretend job whenever you like. Browse the catalog, add items to your cart, choose shipping and payment, and “place” an order you can track. Nothing is bought, shipped or thrown away.
Is thescam.shop free?
Yes. thescam.shop is completely free and there is no sign-up, no account and no payment method required — you can even invent your name, or roll a random one. Your “career”, cart and order history are stored only in your own browser.
Do I need to use my real name or create an account?
No. You can type any name you like or press Random to roll one from a list of 2,000 invented celebrity-pun names. There is no sign-up and no account: the name is just a label for your own session, stored locally with the rest of your fake career.
Why use a fake shop instead of online shopping?
Many people shop for the dopamine hit rather than the item. thescam.shop lets you scratch that itch — the browsing, the cart, the checkout — without spending money, without buyer’s remorse and without packaging, shipping emissions or landfill waste. Your portfolio even adds up what you didn’t cause.
Does anything actually ship?
No. There are no real products, no real money and no real deliveries. The order tracking, receipts and delivery estimates are all part of the simulation.
Where is my data stored?
Entirely in your browser using local storage — there is no server-side account. The user menu has a “Clear data” action that wipes your name, career, balance, cart and order history, and your browser’s own “clear site data” does the same. Unsent feedback is the only thing that leaves your device.
What can I do in the store?
Start on a global basic income, invent a name and take a pretend job whenever you feel like it, watch a live salary accumulate in the bar under the header, and collect it with “Claim” on the home page or your portfolio. “Work overhours” adds an hour of pay to that unclaimed total, stacking a bonus the faster you tap. Then browse a catalog with career-locked items and discounts, build a cart with “customers often buy these together” suggestions, pick a shipping tier, pay with a fake balance, track the delivery, revisit your orders and review your portfolio — all in 13 currencies, including Bitcoin.
How do I earn and spend money?
Your salary accrues every second from your career’s yearly pay — Unemployed earns a global basic income instead. The accrued amount lives in the salary bar under the header (tap the chevron for the hourly rate) and you move it into your spendable balance with “Claim”, on the home page or the portfolio. “Work overhours” adds another hour of pay to the unclaimed total rather than straight to your balance. You only ever spend the fake balance, so nothing real is at stake.
How are the environmental savings calculated?
Each product carries impact factors — CO₂e, water, plastic and packaging, materials and minerals, paper and wood — as cradle-to-gate estimates (materials, production and packaging), taken from published product environmental reports and water-footprint studies, with tiers for things like thin versus workstation laptops and denim versus other garments. Your portfolio adds them up for everything you own. They are rounded estimates for a fake store, not a real lifecycle assessment.
v0.0.9-alpha.261015-1db 20260925