The rise of fake online shopping platforms that let you pretend to buy things: Would you use a ‘dopamine site’?

FoodNeverComes has all the trappings of a food delivery app. You can scroll through a list of restaurants, select your items, and make modifications, then enter your address and method of payment and track the courier as they bring the food to your door. The only catch? As the app’s name implies, the food never actually comes. FoodNeverComes features no real transactions or deliveries. Instead, it’s part of a growing trend of fake online shopping sites spreading from South Korea. On so-called “dopamine sites,” users can simulate retail therapy without the actual retail, getting the buzz tha...