Lyoness @ BehindMLM

Back in October we covered Delfi’s reporting of a news story concerning the activities of Lyoness affiliates in Tallinn, Estonia. For those unfamiliar with Delfi, they are a major internet portal in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania providing daily news, ranging from gardening to politics. It ranks as the most popular website among Lithuanian and Estonian [Continue reading…]

Despite only money changing hands, there are those that argue that the selling of access to discounts, or even discounts themselves, constitute the retail sale of products or services. Such is the case with Lyoness, wherein affiliates can invest funds in shopping units and get paid when newly recruited affiliates do the same. Vouchers are [Continue reading…]

A combination of a media blackout order and language-barriers have made it difficult to report on the Austrian criminal case against Lyoness and CEO Hubert Freidl. BehindMLM first reported on the Austrian case back in 2013, which is when I first became aware of an investigation by Austria’s “White Collar Crimes and Corruption” Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKSTA). [Continue reading…]

Since the news broke late last week that the ACCC’s pyramid scheme case against Lyoness had been dismissed, we’ve tried to piece together what we can from subsequent statements by Justice Flick and the ACCC. Lyoness for the most part have been busy flooding the internet with hundreds of spammy press-releases celebrating the victory. Personally [Continue reading…]

Following a judgement hearing held a few hours ago, we can now report that the ACCC’s pyramid scheme case against Lyoness has been dismissed.

It might not be standard-practice for an MLM affiliate enquire as to the source of funds newly recruited affiliates are using to sign up with, but surely there’s at least some level of evaluation on affordability going on? The internet goes some way to distance the obvious, but if you’re meeting face to face and [Continue reading…]

Last month we brought you the story of the council of a town in England, gearing up to encourage local businesses to sign up as Lyoness merchants. That town was Hailsham, with our coverage attracting the attention of town council staff. In an attempt to answer some of the questions raised in BehindMLM’s initial article, John [Continue reading…]

Lyconet are gearing up to release what they’re calling “Customer Cloud” in Europe. The basic idea is that “organizations” sign up to Lyoness and in turn sign up shoppers (typically members of the organization). Through Lyconet’s “Cloud Sponsor” program, shopping points generated by the shopping activity of these members are allocated to Lyconet Premium affiliates. [Continue reading…]

Hailsham is a civil parish and the largest of the five towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Back in February, “representatives from Lyoness” were invited to give a ‘short presentation to the Hailsham Forward Executive‘. According to their website, the Hailsham Forward Executive was born out of the Mary Portas Vision for [Continue reading…]

Following similar charges filed against Lyoness in Australia, five Lyoness investors have now been charged with conducting pyramid scheme fraud in Greece. At this stage only three of the investors have been named, Herbert and Anna Teissel, two Austrians and Fokion Fountoukidis, a Greek national.