The game is playable today, and it's a lot of fun with friends. It's not a scam by any definition that I can think of, but some people stretch that definition.
Playable today is irrelevant. There are many examples of companies with legitimate products (not "alpha" or a JPEG concept art of a product) where management were criminals.
Store citizen is a scam because:
Advertising fraud - This is an easy one. They constantly lie about everything. Fake one time demos, fake vidoes, premeditated misrpresentation of their capabilities and goals. This list goes on and on and on.
Crowdfunding fraud - Chris Roberts started a crowdfunding campaign to launched a Wing Commander style single player game and a multiplayer/MMO. Instead you get a multi-decade scheme to enrich himself, his family members and senior insiders.