Lyoness faces scrutiny in Germany

Recently, the authors fueling the Lyoness discussion at the Ktipp forum and (afterwards) the guys at Platfform Lyoness, reported that Lyoness is - finally - also facing scrutiny in Germany, after having received a considerable amount of negative publicity in Austria and Switzerland. The article that gets referenced is an article in the German newspaper 'Nordkurier', with the title 'Discount enterprise with doubtful customer recruitment?'.

The article discusses the 'too-good-to-be-true' promises of enormous discounts and future financial freedom made by Lyoness, and the skepticism and criticism it faces in Austria and Switzerland, linking this negativism to the unfamiliarity of German authorities with this 'company on the rise'. Of course, it should be acknowledged that Germany, even though it represents a considerable market, with the same language as spoken in Lyoness' home countries (Austria and Switzerland), was entered by Lyoness in the end of the 2000s, considerably later than Lyoness' founding in 2003 and its expansion to Eastern Europe in the consequent years. However, the poignant unfamiliarity of German authorities with the Lyoness racket begs the question whether the cooperation between EU member states in accepting each other's 'companies' (which is how Lyoness has managed to expand its obvious racket all across Europe, and, later, the world) is sufficiently effective when faced with 'companies' that have less than good intentions. In other words, it is highly remarkable (to say the least) that according to spokesman Joachim Geburtig, the German Consumer Union is unfamiliar with (even the name) Lyoness, while its Austrian counterpart (where they speak the same language, for crying out loud) has ages ago filed an extensive lawsuit against Lyoness, challenging as much as 61 clauses of the general terms and conditions of Lyoness, which the Austrian Consumer Union (VKI) calls vague and incomprehensible. Similarly, the German government department of economy had never heard of Lyoness, while its Austrian counterpart is - reportedly - investigating the 'company', gets regular parliamentary questions about Lyoness and is familiar with the legal investigations of the Austrian justice department and government regulators into Lyoness, and there conclusion that Lyoness is a pyramid scheme.

Comparably with in other countries, the major companies that Lyoness parades around in Germany as being 'partners' (540 in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern alone, according to Lyoness), with 'large legal departments' that have all 'thoroughly investigated and endorsed Lyoness', claim in the media that they have not a lot to do with Lyoness, and for sure do not endorse its 'business model'. Instead, they explain to the journalists that they have sold discount vouchers or present cards to Lyoness (Textile giant Takko and Flower shop chain Fleurop) and that they have not sold their vouchers to Lyoness with the knowledge and information they have now (Fleurop).

The Lyoness Complaint Centre is happy that the German media is (finally) catching up on the developments in the case of the Lyoness racket and hopes that the mentioned authorities will rapidly give a call to their counterparts in Austria and/or Switzerland, to let themselves be fully informed on what kind of criminal organisation they have allowed into their country.