Is ACN A Scam? A 13-Year Veteran Gives You the Honest Answer
- Dom & Jordanna Linic
- May 19
- 7 min read
By Dom Linic | THE TEAM | theacnteam.com
If you've been researching ACN and landed on this page, you've probably already seen some strong opinions online. Some people swear by it. Others call it a scam. And you're somewhere in the middle, trying to figure out the truth before you make a decision.
I'm going to give you that truth, not a sales pitch.
My name is Dom Linic. My wife Jordanna and I have been building our ACN business since 2012. We are Senior Vice Presidents, the highest earned position in the company and we lead one of the largest ACN organizations in Canada, known as THE TEAM. We were the first SVPs in Alberta, and we personally pioneered the launch of XOOM Energy across Canada in 2016.
We have skin in this game. We have 13 years of results. And I'm going to answer this question as honestly as I can, because I believe you deserve a real answer, not a script.
First, Let's Define What a Scam Actually Is
A scam is a fraudulent scheme designed to take your money while delivering nothing of value. Bernie Madoff ran a scam. Fake crypto investment platforms are scams. Pyramid schemes that pay people to recruit with no real product or service are scams.
ACN is none of those things.
ACN is a direct sales company that has been in business since 1993, over 30 years. It operates in 27 countries. It holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. ACN has won over 100 industry awards and has been recognized by the Direct Selling Association, one of the most respected regulatory bodies in the direct sales industry.
If ACN were a scam, it would not have survived 30 years of operation across 27 countries and tens of thousands of government-regulated customer accounts.
That doesn't mean ACN is perfect. And it doesn't mean everyone who joins makes money. But it is not a scam.
Why Do People Call ACN a Scam?
This is where it gets honest, and important.
There are three real reasons people call ACN a scam, and none of them are because ACN is fraudulent. They are:
1. Most people who join don't make significant money.
This is true. And ACN is legally required to disclose this. This is not unique to ACN, it is true of virtually every direct sales and network marketing company in existence. It is also true of most small businesses in general. Statistics show that over 50% of small businesses fail within five years. In Canada, 75% of real estate agents didn't sell a single home.
The reason most IBOs don't make significant money is not because the business doesn't work. It's because building any business requires consistent effort, skill development, and persistence, and most people who join network marketing are not willing or prepared to put in that level of work. They join with the hope of easy money, don't get easy money, and conclude it must be a scam.
I won't pretend otherwise. If you join ACN expecting passive income to appear without effort, you will be disappointed.
2. Some IBOs overpromise when recruiting.
This is the biggest legitimate criticism of ACN and frankly of network marketing broadly. Some IBOs, particularly newer ones, get excited and paint an unrealistic picture of how fast the money will come. They show lifestyle content, quote income figures without context, and create expectations that don't match reality for most people.
I have zero tolerance for this on our team. THE TEAM trains every IBO to lead with the product, lead with honesty, and never promise results they can't guarantee. The ACN opportunity is real and it has changed my family's life, but it requires real work, real skill, and real time.
3. People confuse direct sales with illegal pyramid schemes.
A pyramid scheme pays people purely for recruiting other people, with no real product or service being sold to real customers. This is illegal and it is not what ACN is.
ACN pays commissions based on customer acquisition and customer usage of real services. Every commission I earn comes from a real customer paying a real bill for a real service — electricity, internet, wireless, banking, merchant processing. If you stopped recruiting entirely and just kept acquiring customers, you would still earn money. That is the definition of a legitimate direct sales business, and it is the legal and ethical distinction that separates ACN from an illegal pyramid scheme.
ACN is reviewed and approved by regulators in every country it operates in. It does not pay for recruitment alone.
This distinction is not just philosophical, it is codified in law. In Canada, the legal line between legitimate multi-level marketing and illegal pyramid schemes is defined in Sections 55 and 55.1 of the Competition Act (RSC, 1985, c. C-34). Under Canadian law, it is a criminal offence to establish, operate, advertise, or promote a pyramid selling scheme, and someone who contravenes this provision can be fined up to $200,000 per count and/or imprisoned for up to one year. Multi-level marketing plans are explicitly recognized as a legal business model under the same legislation, provided they meet specific requirements. You can read the full text of the law directly on the Government of Canada's Justice Laws website here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-34/page-10.html . In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission actively regulates multi-level marketing companies and has established that a pyramid scheme is characterized by paying participants rewards that are unrelated to the sale of products to ultimate users, meaning compensation driven by recruitment alone, not real customer sales. The FTC's full business guidance on multi-level marketing is publicly available here: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/business-guidance-concerning-multi-level-marketing . ACN's compensation model, which pays commissions exclusively based on real customers using real services, is fully compliant with both Canadian and American law. That is not an opinion. It is a legal and operational fact.
What ACN Actually Is
ACN is one of the world's largest direct sellers of essential services, services that people already pay for every month regardless of whether they know what ACN is.
In Canada, ACN offers electricity and natural gas through XOOM Energy, internet and wireless through TELUS and Koodo, merchant payment processing through NMI, device protection through MYLO, mortgages through 8Twelve, and identity theft protection through IDSeal. In 2026, ACN is launching Dingoblu, a full FDIC approved Fintech digital banking product.
In the United States, ACN offers XOOM Energy in 19 deregulated states, Flash Mobile wireless on America's largest 5G network, Vivint smart home security, IDSeal identity theft protection with up to $3 million in coverage, Impact Health Sharing as an affordable healthcare alternative, and NMI merchant services.
These are not made-up products. These are nationally recognized brands that millions of people already use. As an ACN IBO, your job is to refer people to services they are likely already paying for, and earn a residual commission every month those customers stay on the service.
That is the business model. It is straightforward, it is legal, and it works.
Is the ACN Opportunity Right for You?
Here is where I want to be genuinely honest with you, because not everyone should join ACN, and I would rather tell you that upfront than have you join, struggle, and call it a scam later.
ACN is probably RIGHT FOR YOU if:
- You are willing to talk to people and build relationships, this is a people business
- You are coachable and willing to follow a proven system rather than reinvent the wheel
- You have at least 5-10 hours per week to dedicate to building a customer base
- You are patient enough to understand that residual income builds slowly and compounds over time
- You are looking for a business that can create an extra income, NOT a get-rich-quick scheme
ACN is probably NOT RIGHT FOR YOU if:
- You are looking for fast, easy money with minimal effort
- You are uncomfortable talking to people about services and opportunities
- You are not willing to invest time in learning and skill development
- You need income immediately, building a residual income base takes months, not days
What 13 Years Has Taught Me
When Jordanna and I started in 2012, we were not wealthy. We were not connected. We did not have a large social media following. What we had was a decision to commit, a willingness to be coached, and a work ethic that refused to quit.
We became the first Regional Vice Presidents in Alberta. We were the first ACN team to pioneer the launch of XOOM Energy across Canada. We built an organization all over north America and includes some of the best leaders and most dedicated IBOs around.
Not because ACN handed it to us. Because we built it.
The question is never "Is ACN a scam?" The question is "Am I willing to build a real business?"
If the answer is yes, I'd like to talk to you.
What to Do Next
If you are genuinely curious about the ACN opportunity, here is what I suggest:
Attend one of our weekly Zoom meetings. You can take a look at our events section to find the next available meeting. There is no pressure, no sales pitch, and no commitment required. Come and see the business for yourself.
Visit our blog, we write regularly about the Alberta energy market, ACN business building, the services we offer and any news that might effect our related industries. Read what we publish and form your own opinion about who we are.
ACN is not a scam. But it is also not for everyone. The only way to know if it is for you is to get real information from real people who have real results.
We are those people.
Dom Linic
Senior Vice President, ACN
Co-Founder, THE TEAM
Earnings as an ACN IBO are based solely upon the successful referral of products to customers and their usage of those products. Income and success at ACN are not guaranteed but depend primarily on the individual's persistence, efforts and results of acquiring customers personally and/or through their team. Individuals may not earn income as an IBO.
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