Dean Visagie: The master of deception behind alleged investment scam

He’s reportedly an expert in smoke and mirrors and delay tactics who couched himself as a misunderstood genius. Dean Visagie allegedly smooth-talked investors out of millions of rand.

Investigators are still adding it all up but called the financial damage incalculable.

But when it came to answering for his claims of his self-proclaimed messianic greatness and the investors he allegedly defrauded, Visagie ducked and dived The Citizen.

Visagie ducked and dived

After almost four weeks of missed appointments and unanswered questions, his victims are still out of pocket and Visagie, full of excuses, remains footloose and fancy-free in Edenvale, where he claimed that he presently lives.

Terra Firma Reverse Technologies, a company Visagie still trades under and that corresponded with The Citizen, claimed it was revolutionising the field of electronic waste management. Visagie painted a grand vision.

“Electronic waste is one of the most toxic waste streams in the world and the fastest growing waste stream. My focus has been on extracting these metals in an environmentally friendly way.”

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Simply put, he had the proprietary technological wherewithal to mine old circuit boards and other components and, of course, make millions from it. He then allegedly convinced investors to part with significant sums of money, promising lucrative returns to fund his company.

He allegedly even persuaded some to leave their jobs and prepare for employment opportunities in Europe, claiming Terra Firma had secured substantial funding.

However, none of these promises materialised.

Promises didn’t materialise

IRS Forensics investigator Chad Thomas said: “He told people to leave their jobs and sell their homes, assuring them that he would employ them in Europe.”

Visagie called himself a genius on his investment presentations, cultivated an image of academic brilliance and professional acclaim. He claimed to hold eight degrees, including two doctorates. He also described himself as a specialist in waste management with groundbreaking processes for extracting valuable metals.

In Terra Firma online marketing materials, he said: “I have done a lot of research and development at the University of Pretoria, about six years of that, and also worked with metal science faculties abroad.”

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Thomas said: “It sounded quite unusual. Such groundbreaking work that went unnoticed by a top academic institution was simply curious.”

An investigation into Visagie’s academic record suggested the research never happened.

Thomas said it all appeared fabricated.

All appeared fabricated

“During my investigation, I spoke to him directly about his purported qualifications. He could not give me a straight answer, and shortly thereafter removed the page from his website where he had listed these nonexistent qualifications.”

Visagie later admitted he didn’t have any legitimate degrees in a letter sent to investors in Terra Firma earlier this year. In the correspondence he apologised for lying.

Visagie also promoted himself as a former member of South African Special Forces, even stating on his LinkedIn profile that he had served for a decade. But during Thomas’ investigation, the South African Special Forces Association confirmed there was no record of Visagie ever completing training or serving as a special forces soldier. Visagie also claimed to have founded a crime fighting security business called Viper Elite.

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This, too, was pie in the sky, but, said Thomas, the money that investors lost was very real.

And it seems that Visagie is still at it because he had to consult with investors, prior to agreeing to speak to The Citizen, which he never did.

One week his e-mail provider was allegedly offline for nine days, another he was out of town, yet another he had e-mail problems again.

Still at it

He also did not arrived to an arranged interview and did not answer multiple calls or WhatsApp messages.

Apart from investors’ vanishing funds, the only other part of the Visagie’s story that seems based on fact is his previous brush with the law.

In 2016, he was convicted of fraud and money laundering, but investigation files show Visagie dismissed his criminal record claiming that his name was cleared: “That has been cleaned up a long time ago. It was a misunderstanding.”

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He framed himself as the victim of a corrupt system.

“You fight for your country, and when you come back, you have things like this thrown at you. It’s very unfair,” Visagie said on a recording that The Citizen has heard.

Thomas said people like Visagie are dangerously good at what they do.

Dangerously good at what they do

“They are confident, convincing, and affable; but most of this is carefully thought out with the intent to deceive victims,” he said.

Another criminal case has now been opened against Visagie and is under investigation by law enforcement.