Mastercard Denounces Lyoness Over False Partnership Claims

Mastercard has flat-out denied any direct business relationship with Lyoness, the Austrian-based investment scheme that has been using the payment giant's name to drum up credibility with potential recruits.

The problem is simple: Lyoness has spent months telling people Mastercard backs them. Lyoness affiliates flooded the internet with claims about a "strategic alliance" and "direct" partnership. They posted videos mimicking Mastercard's famous "priceless" ads. They claimed a Lyoness Mastercard would roll out across North America in early 2015. None of it was true.

Mordechai Lerner, writing on the Lyoness blog on December 26, 2014, declared: "With Salesforce partnering with Lyoness and the strategic alliance with MasterCard YES, MASTERCARD DIRECTLY!!! ( to prove this, the Lyoness MC has the Lyoness Cashback card in the chip or stripe of the card and when using it by a Lyoness SME you automatically receive the cashback and shopping points that the SME has agreed to pay on top of the shopping points for using the MasterCard.)"

Others chimed in with similar claims. A user going by LyoliderPL posted in September: "Yes there will be even 3 Mastercards. Yes directly with MC signed." Peter Fuhr wrote in August that "Lyoness and MasterCard are forming an alliance effect November 8 2014."

Lyoness's own promotional materials reinforced the deception. The company created videos styled after Mastercard's well-known advertising campaigns, inserting Lyoness branding into what appeared to be official partnership spots. In January 2015, it emerged that Lyoness hadn't even created these ads themselves—they had simply edited Mastercard logos into existing Mastercard advertisements, apparently without permission.

In their own legal terms and conditions, Lyoness went even further. The company explicitly stated that the "Prepaid Lyoness MasterCard" was "provided under a separate agreement with MasterCard." This language was designed to convince customers that Mastercard had formally partnered with Lyoness.

Mastercard says otherwise. The payment company has confirmed it has no such agreement with Lyoness.

The false claims serve a clear purpose: they're meant to launder Lyoness's credibility. Lyoness operates an accounting unit investment scheme that has drawn scrutiny for its questionable legal status in multiple countries. By claiming Mastercard's endorsement, Lyoness tries to convince people that a major financial institution has vetted them. If Mastercard signed on, the thinking goes, surely Lyoness must be legitimate.

It's a common playbook in pyramid scheme marketing. Create the appearance of legitimacy through association with real companies. Lyoness took it a step further by manufacturing fake advertisements and inserting their branding into Mastercard's own marketing materials. The company then enshrined the false partnership claim directly into their legal documents.

The strategy worked for a time. But Mastercard's denial pulls the plug on one of Lyoness's most effective sales tools.

🤖 Quick Answer

What was Mastercard's response to Lyoness's partnership claims?

How did Lyoness misuse Mastercard's brand for recruitment?
Lyoness affiliates promoted false partnership claims across the internet, created videos mimicking Mastercard's advertising campaigns, and claimed an imminent co-branded card launch. These tactics were designed to establish credibility with potential recruits and boost the scheme's legitimacy.

When did Mastercard publicly denounce Lyoness?
Mastercard's denunciation occurred in response to claims made by Lyoness representatives, including blog posts from December 2014 mentioning a purported "

🔗 Related Articles

- 13 uFun Club scammers plead not guilty (Thailand)
- ABA Marketing Review: Weird Russian crypto pyramid scheme
- Akashx: My Daily Choice’s “social trading” securities fraud
- 9xProfits loses .COM website domain, .ORG still up
- PGI Global dump US victims, promises $1000 refunds in BTC