Bad Argument: Blame game and god-complex

God-complex is a psychological condition where the afflicted has inflated belief of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. It is not a clinical term but it was coined by psychoanalysis pioneer Ernest Jones. Basically the afflicted believe that one's a minor deity.

And MLM, due to its persistence in "positive thinking", as well as tap into one's innate belief that one "deserves better", often encourages participants to develop god-complex: that the individual is better at sales than s/he actually is, that the individual deserves to be treated with respect (more than s/he has earned), and the individual is infallible and any proof to the contrary must be wrong.

Here's a very clear example of such: You all are wrong, I am right (trust me).

A person that goes by screenname Shufel posted the following on BehindMLM about Lyoness, a suspect ponzi scheme on multiple continents.

You are all very , but very wrong. My respectful advice is to check everything very well before you do some statement. Do not collect your information from some random blog in internet or you may be collecting wrong information (Like in this one) .

Shufel posted the message twice, without providing ANY proof for his viewpoint (i.e. "you are all wrong") and merely insinuated, with a lot of condescension, that whatever posted at BehindMLM was not the truth, without providing anything to prove such.

Shufel expect you to believe him or her without proof, which is faith, and ignore any evidence to the contrary.  Thus, a nearly perfect example of god-complex.

But it points at something slightly deeper... the "blame game"... as demonstrated by Shufel in the same post later:

 if some one have a big Lifeline (translation: group of Lyoness downlines) and don’t have income that’s only one option : He is not doing is work right. (sic)

Ah, the familiar "if you fail, it must be your own fault" blame game in MLM.

BREAKING NEWS: Australia authorities sues Lyoness; alleges pyramid scheme and referral selling

According to press release from ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has launched a lawsuit to shut down Lyoness and related entities from operating in Australia. According to ACCC: 

The ACCC alleges that Lyoness has operated the scheme in Australia from mid-2011 and that it continues to operate the scheme. The scheme offers ‘cash back’ rebates to members who shop through a Lyoness portal, use Lyoness vouchers or present their Lyoness card at certain retailers. 

Whilst cash back offers themselves are not prohibited by the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), the ACCC alleges that the Lyoness scheme also offers commissions to members who recruit new members who make a down payment on future shopping.

... 

“Under the Australian Consumer Law, it is illegal not only to establish or promote a pyramid scheme, but also to participate in one in any capacity," Mr Sims said. 

The ACCC also alleges that the conduct by Lyoness breached the ACL prohibition on ‘referral selling’, where a consumer is induced to buy goods or services by the promise of a commission or rebate contingent on a later event.

First hearing is set for September 16, 2014 in Australia. No word from Lyoness just yet.

(Thanks for BehindMLM and PatrickPretty for the heads-up)

Related articles

• BREAKING NEWS: Lyoness in trouble in home country Austria?
• Why do Some MLMers expect other people to take them seriously?
• News Update 07-JUN-2014 TelexFree and Lyoness updates
• Scam Study: TVI Express

News Update 07-JUN-2014: TelexFree trustee appointed; TelexFree Faith Sloan know NOTHING about fraud, SEC disagrees; Lyoness not a pyramid scheme in Norway now

Remember folks, when you read news, even ones provided here, you should check the links I provided to make sure I was representing the new properly, and you should do the same for ALL the "news" you come across, unless you encounter news such as those from major newspapers, which has readers to account for and has a reputation of telling the truth, rather than what you want to hear. Stop reading crap meme and spreading them.


Stephen B. Darr selected as US trustee to oversee TelexFree bankruptcy

As directed by the judge Hoffman, US trustees has appointed Stephen B. Darr of Merisow Financial Consulting as trustee to takeover the TelexFree bankruptcy.

Here's the actual court order making the appointment:  (Thanks to Attorney Tim Durken for the lead)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/228343084/TelexFree-Certificate-of-Appointment-of-Chapter-11-Trustee

What exactly does a trustee do? Here's Cornell Law School's link to actual law on that:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/1106

You can find a short profile on Mr. Darr on the Merisow website:

http://www.mesirowfinancial.com/mfc/leadership/darr_s.jsp

Why do Some MLMers expect other people to take them seriously, when they do NOT take other people seriously?

English: Different customer loyalty cards (airlines, car rental companies, hotels etc.) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In life, "fairness" is often expected. You do something for me, I do something for you.

So why is it different in the MLM world?

A common theme that often emerges in discussion of a particular opportunity's legality is the promoter wants you (the critic) and anybody else to take what they say seriously, while they discount everything YOU wrote/discussed/pointed out as utter garbage to be ignored. Indeed, much of this blog covers such excuses used by such promoters to dismiss criticisms.

Recently, the discussion was rehashed about the opportunity called Lyoness.

Lyoness is a strange hybrid of a shopping loyalty program where you can earn shopping credits (funded by merchant contributions based on your purchase and purchases of those you recruited). However, it also has this potentially illegal component where you can purchase account units (normally generated through shopping) directly, bypass all the shopping, and get money THAT way. Some MLM experts (not me, really) have pointed out this is basically a Ponzi scheme.

Troy Dooly published a blogpost on July 22nd 2013 titled" Lyoness America Violating Pyramid, Ponzi, Securities, and Business Opportunities regulations?"  And the **** really hit the fan. Mr. Dooly lost a bit of credibility when he practically endorsed the ponzi scheme Zeek Rewards, but he was willing to admit his mistakes and learned from it. Now, after being advised by one of his close friends and MLM analyst, he decided to put the information he got out there.

A month later, he was invited down to Miami to talk with Lyoness American leadership and legal counsel in what is pretty obviously a damage control spin attempt by Lyoness.

So what do Lyoness supporters have to say about Lyoness itself, while ignoring its critics?