Is Lyconet A Scam? [2020 Review]

Welcome to my Lyconet review! If you are wondering is Lyconet a scam or a pyramid scheme, I'm here to help you find out!

Lyconet is a subsidiary of the former cash-back MLM company Lyoness. Lyoness was split into Lyconet for the MLM business and to Cashback World for the cash back features. Lyconet allows you to earn a share of the purchases your referrals make through the loyalty program. It also offers and investment opportunity. I wouldn't call Lyconet a scam, but the mother company Lyoness has been deemed a pyramid scheme in some countries and legit in others, so there is definitely some controversy behind the company. So I would be careful with investing.

The chances are you wound up here because someone recommended Lyconet to you, asked you to join it, or maybe you participated in a marketing event where they praised the system.

Whatever your contact with the company was, the little voice at the back of your head said "hold on, let's research this a bit".

And I must congratulate you for taking the time to research the business opportunity before jumping in. It's the only way to avoid scams and find the legit opportunities to make money online.

Before we continue I want you to know that I'm not affiliated with Lyconet in any way, I'm basing this article on the information I could gather online.

My website is about finding the best online business opportunities for starting to work on your own terms. I check out different opportunities and recommend the ones I find useful myself. I monetize my site with this, so I do include affiliate links in my recommendation. I want to be completely transparent about that.

I'm not going to decide for you if Lyconet is a scam or not. I'm simply going to state some facts that can help you decide if Lyconet is a legit business opportunity you want to participate in or not.

I recommend you apply critical thinking to anything you read, especially online. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

Don't trust anyone. Including me, Lyconet, or the people recommending you to join Lyconet. Even if they are your friends or family. Make your own conclusions.

What Is Lyconet

Lyconet has a pretty complicated history. The most important thing you need to know is that Lyconet was formed from the cashback MLM Lyoness.

Lyconet is a network marketing company that focuses on marketing the Cashback World program that offers cashback incentives for consumers. Lyconet is a trademark that was introduced in 2014 when Lyoness was split into Lyconet and Cashback World.

Lyoness was founded in 2003 in Austria by Iwan J. Ackermann, Max Meienberg, and Uwe Proch.

Network marketing is synonymous with Multi-Level marketing, which is NOT synonymous with a pyramid scheme. But since many people mix MLMs and pyramid schemes, I can understand that MLM companies want to differentiate themselves from the term.

Whatever you want to call it, the business model involves recruiting new people into the system. In a legit MLM business, there are products or services that the individual sales reps sell.

Most authorities also classify MLM/ network marketing businesses legit if most of the revenue comes from the sales of products or services, not from participation fees.

That's the main difference between pyramid schemes and MLM's. In pyramid schemes, most of the revenue comes from the participation fees of the recruits.

Another very similar scam is a Ponzi scheme, where the return of interest is paid out from the investments of new recruits.

Is Lyconet A Scam?

Like I said in the beginning, I'm not going to decide for you if Lyconet is a scam. I'm going to share a few facts that might help you decide if it's something you want to participate in.

Before we look at some of the disconcerting facts, let's look at the positive ones. The company, originally Lyoness, has actually been around for 16 years as of writing this. That's always a good sign for an MLM business because pyramid schemes are typically short-lived.

Lyconet has also managed to get some pretty significant authority figures to speak at their motivational events.

Yes, it's true that most folks can be hired to speak but do you really think people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tony Robbins don't have an army of PR people doing background checks on every event they participate in?

As for the not so good news, the group of corporations that form Lyconet and previously Lyoness have had their share of trouble with the authorities in many countries.

As a major player in the MLM business, it has been subjected to many investigations about running alleged pyramid scheme or otherwise questionable business model.

Lyoness has been involved in so many legal battles that I can't list them all here. You can check the whole scoop at this Wikipedia article. The most important ones in my opinion are:

• Lyoness has been deemed a pyramid scheme by 4 different private courts in its homeland Austria
•  In Sweden the official Gaming Board has been investigating Lyoness for running a pyramid scheme
• In Italy and Norway, Lyoness and Lyconet are banned  
• Australian Federal Court concludes that Lyoness is not a pyramid scheme because there is no participation fee

So it seems Lyconet is at least borderline pyramid scheme according to many authorities. But I actually think it's a case of regional differences of interpretation.

Many countries consider most forms of network marketing and MLMs pyramid schemes or at least bad business practices. In the US MLMs have been considered a legit business model for over a century.

It seems the Lyoness and Lyconet have been deemed pyramid schemes in many countries for the simple fact that they include a multi-level referral model, aka network marketing.

I think the key difference to a clear pyramid scheme with Lyconet is the fact that you can't earn simply from recruiting people. You earn commissions from the sales they make. This is why the Federal Court of Australia concluded they are not a pyramid scheme.

So all in all, I think Lyconet is a fairly typical MLM that uses a pyramid structure, but it doesn't really fit the bill of a classic pyramid scheme.

That said, the odds of making money with MLMs is very small and I don't personally care for the business model because of the recruitment incentive over selling products or services.

Making Money With MLMs

So is MLM a good business opportunity for you? Well, that depends completely on you. You see MLMs are funny in the sense that they offer a huge income potential but in reality, only a fraction of people succeed with them.

If you study MLMs a bit it becomes apparent that the way to succeed business-wise with them is to focus on recruiting instead of focusing on selling products to consumers.

And not recruiting just anybody, but people with the right skills and mindset. If you get even a couple of good sellers beneath you, the can build a huge downline that can bring in the cash.

With MLMs it's also important to get in on the action at the right time. The earlier you get in, the more potential people there will be to recruit.

With global companies like Lyconet, the potential for growth is, of course, higher, especially if the business model allows you to leverage the online world.

But the main thing with succeeding with MLMs is that you need to have the right mindset, you have to be socially adept and very proactive. You can't get discouraged easily if you want to succeed in making a full-time living with MLMs.

The biggest problem with MLMs, in my opinion, is that they often paint overly optimistic pictures about the business opportunity without emphasizing that you really need certain qualities to really succeed with network marketing.

There is often pressure to recruit more people and to buy more inventory, training, or services from the mother company. I'm talking in general here, of course, not about Lyconet.

Finally, network marketing is often associated with a cult-like mentality. The people that have invested time, money, and themselves really want to believe in a better tomorrow. There's nothing wrong with this if it's used constructively and doesn't get out of hand.

But if it prevents people from seeing the forest from the trees and accepting well-justified critique, or actual legal and ethical problems with the company, it becomes a problem.

For the above reasons I personally don't prefer network marketing. But I'm all for self-employment and striving for financial freedom, that's why I personally use another business model.

An Option For MLMs

If you want to work on your own terms and have a home-based business, the online world is full of opportunities. My number one recommendation for beginners is SEO based affiliate marketing.

Why I recommend affiliate marketing is that the skills you learn are universal and can be used in several other online business models.

But most importantly I recommend affiliate marketing because it requires minimal investment to get started. There's no need to invest in inventory, storage, expensive video ads, or advertising in general, etc. You don't need to sell to people, do cold calling, etc.

The cons of this business model are that it takes time to get the business up and running. You will not earn any income in the beginning, so you have to be willing to work without instant gratification.

But if you are willing to stick out the initial phase, you will be rewarded with an online business that produces income on automation.

Your own affiliate marketing business will allow you to work from anywhere in the world. The business model is cumulative as every piece of content you create produces income for years to come.

I'm not going to go into depth how this stuff works exactly here because I've covered it in my Wealthy Affiliate review. So check that out if this business opportunity sounds like something you might be interested in.

If you want to get started right away, you can join my free 7-day affiliate marketing course by leaving your email address in the form below. The course is very actionable and helps you set up your initial site in a simple step-by-step manner.