This has not been a pleasant article to write. I knew Tiaan when I first started running in the early 2000s. He managed the Fourways Runner at the time, we both ran for Fourways Road Runners and he seemed like a “good guy”. Although we did not train for the race together, we both ran our first sub-3 marathon at Kaapsehoop in 2008 (and Tiaan featured in my race report). Tiaan has 19 Comrades finishes to his name including 3 silvers with a best time of 7:11:10 in 2012. He was an excellent runner and was perfectly entitled to give himself the moniker “The Flying Dutchman” (or TFD for short). Unfortunately, it turns out that he is also a master con artist and the “The Lying Dutchman” would have been much more appropriate.
When I got a message from a running friend asking, “Do you know Tiaan Conradie? I think he’s scammed us for shoes”, I was sceptical – surely there must be some kind of explanation. A couple of weeks later I received a similar message from a second running friend asking if I could apply my investigative skills to one Tiaan Conradie aka The Flying Dutchman. The result is this article and the hope that it will prevent others from getting caught in similar scams.
The Charge Sheet
The sordid details of Conradie’s cons, crimes and conniving schemes quickly emerged. These well-founded (and in most cases confirmed by Conradie himself) allegations include:
- Scamming hundreds of runners for shoes as well as other running and sports equipment.
- Stealing and reselling several hundred thousand rands worth of shoes and running gear from Brooks South Africa (as well as other retailers) while he was an employee there.
- Stealing R50,000 from the body corporate where he and first wife were living (he got divorced shortly thereafter).
- Admitting to shoplifting R25,000 of groceries from the KwikSpar in Plettenberg Bay (according to the owner, he had a penchant for the good stuff like steak and sushi). The owner later determined that it was at least R40,000 (and probably more) that had been stolen.
- Being fired for theft shortly after finding a job at a company called Insite in Plettenberg Bay for theft when he changed invoice details and re-routed payments to his own account. In Conradie’s own words, “At Insite I took new customers that called in and that was helping and doing the work for, for myself creating my own invoice, instead of through the company (I’m still trying to figure that one out, I had a really good thing going there).”
- Committing multiple counts of fraud by creating fake proof of payment documents from various banks.
- Committing multiple counts of fraud by creating fake courier documents.
- Ran up a several thousand rands of debt at the Greenwood Bay College tuck shop, a private school in Plettenberg Bay where he was a running coach (there are also reports that he scammed at least one student).
- Preyed on the good nature and weakened state of a cancer victim undergoing chemotherapy to avoid paying rent.
- Owes tens of thousands of rands to various rental agencies and landlords.
- Being a deadbeat dad who fails to pay his alimony (which would be the one possible mitigating factor for all his scamming).
- Asking women out on dates and then announcing that he’d “Forgotten his wallet at home” when the bill arrived.
When I made contact with Conradie at the end of 2024 to get his side of the story, he had just emigrated to New Zealand where he was given a golden opportunity for a fresh start by an unsuspecting family to manage a new running store in Auckland.
Conradie acknowledged, “I have tried more than once to turn my things around, I wanted to change things, but with the little income I could generate in Plett, I just kept making bad decision after bad decision continuing the spiral and in attempting to pay Paul I took from Peter right up to the end. But for the first time I am in a position to start rebuilding and making things right. It will take time but I am willing and now I am able.”
He even seemed to take accountability, “I want to make clear though that my situation is not an excuse! I chose this direction and could’ve chosen differently.”
There are no prizes for guessing whether these promises are authentic or as real as the ghost ship on which he brands himself.
The Grift
Conradie is an equal opportunity offender who has scammed a diverse array of runners across the spectrum, rich and poor alike (there are some victims for whom a pair of running shoes is the single biggest expense they’ll make in a year) and from recreational runners to the elite (Comrades gold medallist Adele Broodryk is one of his victims). Conradie also has no problem scamming close friends and former running buddies.
Roland du Plessis from Meyerton AC has diligently compiled a list of over 60 runners and running groups who have been conned by Conradie, as well as various other debtors Conradie has left in his wake totalling approximately R1 million. Du Plessis explained that this is probably just the tip of the iceberg as “many people feel too embarrassed to get implicated, do not want to disclose the values that was scammed and just let it go.”
Du Plessis has spent a huge amount of time and effort trying to bring Conradie to justice and get some restitution for his victims, many of whom he has been in direct contact with to collect evidence. Du Plessis explained that is not just the financial damage that Conradie has caused, “His scamming has damaged marriages, destroyed friendships and ruined birthdays.”
Whilst he has had many schemes over the years, Conradie’s most recent modus operandi was to socially engineer a mark on social media. Having been in the business for decades, Conradie is very knowledgeable about running and maintains an online presence. He is particularly adept at infiltrating Strava running groups and building rapport with his victims. After subtly finding out what shoes the mark wears through conversation and / or identifying them on shared social media photos, he’ll say that he imports shoes directly from the supplier, bypasses the middleman and can therefore offer a good discount.
The discount is usually around 20 – 40%, not too good to be true but good enough to get most people to bite. He’ll ask for payment upfront (but will take a deposit if he gets push back). After that his victims get spun a series of tall stories which follows this standard format:
- The shoes are stuck in customs or customs are refusing to release them on some technicality.
- The shoes have been released but they are the wrong size, wrong colour and / or the boxes were tampered with and have to be returned. In some cases he even claimed that old shoes were placed in his couriered running box.
- The courier lost it (complete with forged documentation supposedly from the courier). He would also claim that he lodged a insurance claim against the courier company and was waiting for a payout.
- Aramax and Courier Guy in particular might want to look into the amount of reputational damage they have endured from Conradie.
- The courier (or Conradie) got hijacked.
The Group Discount
The more elaborate version of Conradie’s standard con is to do the above but deliver the first pair of shoes. Once that’s done, he will tell the mark that he can get a bigger discount with a larger order and will invite the mark to chat to friends, his running club, etc. to do a bulk order. If successful, this is a big payday for Conradie and he’s taken some running clubs for over R80,000 in this fashion. I know of one situation where the person who arranged the bulk order felt so bad about his friends losing their money that he withdrew funds from his children’s educational funds to pay them back.
This is how he reeled in Neil Massey, an elite runner who has won several marathons, “I ordered 1 pair of shoes from Tiaan which got delivered quickly. Everything looked legit. I then re-ordered about 6 pairs from Tiaan for myself and that’s when he scammed me for about R20 000 as all my shoes and some of my friends shoes were in his car when he supposedly got ‘hi-jacked’. Straight after he scammed me, I sent out a message to the group and on social media saying do not buy from Tiaan.”
The Endgame
There are three endgame scenarios.
- Most often the victim gives up and writes the money off to bad debts.
- A few victims have laid criminal charges in which case they will get a small initial payment so that there’s a “payment plan” in place and Conradie can’t be prosecuted. After this they are strung along again with false promises and forged proof of payments (as well as guilt tripped with “I’ve made mistakes but I’m owning it and trying to turn my life around” messages).
- The victim makes a credible threat of physical violence against Conradie (and on at least one occasion his family). This usually leads to a full reimbursement.
One of those who managed to get a full refund was well known coach John Hamlett. Hamlett, a former colonel in the army (and definitely not someone I would want to get on the wrong side of), tracked Conradie down to a coffee shop in Emmarentia. He cornered Conradie who was on the ‘hijacking’ stage of his non-delivery story. Through his contacts on the police force, Hamlett confirmed that there was no hijacking and found that Conradie had a number of different bank cards in his wallet. Hamlett convinced Conradie that neither of them were leaving the coffee shop until he’d received a full refund and quickly got his money back.
Audacious Kudos
During the course of the interactions (before, during and after the scam) Conradie is happy to share copies of his ID book, driver’s license and other personal documentation. He is extremely personable and convincing in his interactions. He never shies away from answering even the most upset victim. There are several people who I know to be highly intelligent and discerning who have fallen for his whiles. Conradie has the temerity to contact previous victims to tell them he has a ‘new business up and running and can make things right with a big discount if they place another order.’ Conradie feels no shame and even has the audacity to continue giving his victims kudos on Strava.
Playing the Pity Card
He will string his victims along until the series of unfortunate events becomes so long and the coincidences so implausible that they realise that they are never going to see the shoes. Conradie then plays the pity card. He’ll plead for sympathy due to his unfortunate circumstances, playing on his divorce and that he’s just trying to provide for his two young sons with messages like, “I just wanted to give my boys something to eat when they came to visit”.
After my initial ‘Request for Information’ to the running community on social media, Conradie proactively sent me an email saying, “I’ve made some terrible decisions and wronged many people, of which I am ashamed. I wish I could go back in time and change what I did, but unfortunately I can’t.
There’s no excuse and I won’t try and hide behind my decisions with any. I have refunded and returned funds where I could having just been in a terrible hole and digging it deeper over the last 3 years.
I am finally at a place where I have just started a new job with a proper income and will try to make things right as best as I can, with people and even friends I have wronged.
Just thought I’d try offer a view from my side, but truthfully, I don’t have a leg to stand on, I have wronged people and have to live with that, I have ruined my name and reputation in running circles which I will never get back, but I made the decisions, I chose to do that sadly and for that I will always have regret.”
This is the copy and paste, tried and true formula he’s used to get mercy from his victims over the years. I have seen many similar messages that he’s sent to the victims of his scams. Conradie is adept at preying on one’s emotions and it’s very easy to feel sorry for him. Perhaps more than anyone else, Conradie has taken Roland du Plessis on an emotional roller-coaster. After stringing du Plessis and his club mates on for months, Conradie was able to get them to empathise with his plight to the extent that they even went so far as to arrange debt counselling for him.
Conradie will exploit all kindness shown to him. Explained du Plessis, “When we extended our offer to assist, he promised to never do it again and just needed a chance to turn his life around. He cried wolf too many times. By studying the timeline of those that reported the dates they have been scammed we determined that he exploited our trust and continued to scam other people all along while at the same time making false promises and commitments to us.” Du Plessis has a right to feel aggrieved, there are a large volume of voice notes from Conradie saying things like “I’m so glad you are in my life…” and “You were sent to me from above and I will forever be grateful…”
Conradie’s plea bargain for clemency always includes “Trying to turn my life around”, “Give me another chance” and other similar statements. However, these are more bald-faced lies. Conradie was scamming South African runners up until the day he emigrated to New Zealand late last year. As for du Plessis’ advice to fellow kind-hearted human beings dealing with a rotter like Conradie, “Every time I started doubting myself, I just reminded myself to stick to the facts and not let emotions which he has abused for so many years dictate the objective – let the truth speak for itself.”
Neil Massey shared the same sentiment, “After he scammed us about 3 years ago, he promised he would not do it again to anyone else. We were very close to getting him arrested but the guys decided not to because of his children and that he had promised not to ever do it again. Unfortunately, he has made many peoples’ running lives a struggle. People ordering shoes for important races and then having all his stories and stress and not getting the shoes. He will never stop scamming people.”
A Confident Trickster
Conradie was happy to answer my questions and some were surprisingly candid although, in my opinion, his disclosures on certain questions were dishonest and lacked full disclosure. He also deftly avoided answering specific questions on new crimes like stealing and selling a pair of New Balance shoes from his new employer in New Zealand and selling them for cash outside the shop.
When I pressed him on the shoes (which we later got confirmation were indeed stolen from both his employer and the buyer) his aggravated response chastised me for not given him credit for paying back his victims, “…you still make it out like I’m out here living it up while I owe people all this money. Nothing mentioned about actively being busy repaying the debt and making an effort.”
Empty Promises
However, victims on the payment plan can expect to get a barrage of empty promises and fraudulent proof of payment receipts. Duncan Brown, the owner of the KwikSpar in Plett explained, “He walked around the store for a couple of months putting products into his backpack. When we caught him on camera he came clean and agreed to a payment plan and signed an acknowledgement of debt but has never stuck to it and has only paid about R3k in 2 years. Often sends fake proof of payment which never hits my account.”
Once again, when it comes to dealing with debtors, Conradie will not shy away from communication. Having read through several victim’s long WhatsApp history, I am not sure whether Conradie is pathological, actually believes his lies that he will eventually pay back the money or simply gets a kick out of stringing people along.
The below audio clips and email transcript sent by Conradie to a professional debt collector over an extended period of time further cements Conradie’s position as a serial liar with zero credibility. According to Roland du Plessis, who engaged the debt collector, “Even she took pity on him with all his sob stories. He is a master in making the other party feel like the criminals and just keep on working the same old plot. Her work is debt collection and she was very optimistic that we will get paid back. For a whole year he has fed her one lie after the other and also send her forged documents and payments, some as fresh as a couple of weeks ago. “
Insufficient Funds
Conradie denies that he forged proof of payment documentation and told me that the transfers were returned as a “result of insufficient funds” in the account. Aside from the fact that no credible bank will allow you to process online payments when there are insufficient funds, more than one bank has confirmed minor discrepancies in Conradie’s documentation that indicate fraud. Ironically, forging a bank document is seen as a bigger sin by our legal system than stealing hundreds of thousands of rands from people and this may be Conradie’s comeuppance.
Rents and Dents
Conradie’s fraud is skillful enough to fool experienced estate agents. I spoke to Tracy, a former estate agent, who let out her unit in Plett to Conradie. Tracy received the proof of the initial deposit and pro rata rent which turned out to be fraudulent. Tracy told me she was “unbelievably ill” at the time, undergoing a second bout of chemotherapy and had not been able to work for six months. The rental income was one of Tracy’s only sources of income but Conradie was remorseless “taking the bread out of my mouth.” Tracy describes Conradie as, “Unbelievably smooth – he looks so incredibly genuine. When you corner him, he is like a stray puppy with big, scared eyes and its tail between its legs.”
Whilst trying to get some money out of Conradie, he produced a letter from Capitec that his account had been blocked and would be released in the next few days. Tracy contracted Capitec who confirmed that the letter was fraudulent. Tracy did not have the strength to fight but her sister eventually helped to get Conradie evicted from the unit. He then popped up in the same complex renting another unit (for which he did apparently produce some money) but left Tracy penniless.
Val is another of the many Plettenberg Bay rental agents that Conradie owes money to (R45,000 in this case). She took pity on Conradie as he was walking all around Plett and thought, “I’d do a good deed to help somebody” and lent him her scooter. Val said, “I felt sorry for him, I really did. He’s got two beautiful children and I’m sorry for them. I don’t know how he can mess up his life so badly.”
The scooter came back with two broken mirrors and is no longer usable without repairs as the frame is badly bent. Less than two months later Conradie was spotted around town on a brand new scooter (although it is unknown how he managed to acquire it).
As per Conradie’s standard modus operandi, Val confirmed that she received a stream of forged documentation and empty promises and doubts she’ll see any of her money again, “He pulls everything through his backside. I’m just grateful that he’s out of Plett.” She also added that he left the property in such a filthy state that it required a paying a team of cleaners after he was evicted.
Living His Best Life on Social Media
Whilst pleading poverty, Conradie can be spotted on social media with various ‘living my best life’ posts sporting the latest running kit, wearing expensive watches, sipping gourmet coffee and cooling off after a hard training session with a luxurious Magnum ice-cream. Despite his financial predicament he maintains his lifestyle with monthly subscriptions to premium services like Strava and Apple Music.
I was able to get statements from one of Conradie’s bank accounts and it was clear that he was robbing Peter to pay Paul*. There would be a deposit from a new victim (on this account it appeared that he was selling non-existent sports watches on Facebook Marketplace) and then he would pay a small amount to some of his previous victims. I was particularly irritated to find out that he had chosen the moniker ‘The Running Man’ for his Facebook Marketplace fleecing.
* And there was also a notable splurge on liquor the day before Christmas.
International Man of Misery
As for how he took his operation international, this dates back to before Covid when he and his then second wife emigrated to New Zealand. Conradie’s second marriage ended shortly after returning to South Africa, “I divorced a second time as result of finances, dishonesty (which includes the beginning of the shoes debacle) [when] we got back from NZ.” Whilst details of his first stint in New Zealand are sketchy, it appears that Conradie was able to get at least one person who would provide a reference for him to return.
The Boshoff’s emigrated to New Zealand and bought a small business comprising two retail running shops in Auckland in 2018. They knew Conradie from his previous time in New Zealand and when he contacted them about the possibility of a job, they checked with other local sources and got “really good feedback” on Conradie’s prior work in New Zealand.
The Boshoff’s sponsored Conradie’s work visa to return to New Zealand and also gave him a cash loan for his flights and to get settled. This was truly an opportunity for the fresh start that Conradie consistently claimed that he needed to “get his life back on track”.
In the last correspondence I received from Conradie, he ended his email with the usual ‘just give me a chance’ plea, “I fucked up, again and again and again, I can’t change that, I can only try to make it right and yes I shouldn’t have said I HAVE turned my life around when I’ve kept making the same stupid decisions when I’m in a bind………but I’m here, I’m trying though.”
How did he repay the kindness of the Boshoffs? I guess you could say he hit the ground running.
If nothing else, Conradie is predictable. In his first week he stole and resold a pair of expensive New Balance shoes to a new running acquaintance. $50 Cash went missing from the register. He did a further $60 cash refund to himself. Another box of Asics Superblast shoes was found empty and it is assumed that this was for another Conradie cash special. He even placed orders for expensive running equipment and clothing for personal use on the company’s account.
He certainly grabbed that opportunity with both hands and set about milking his new benefactors for all they were worth. Despite being presented with all the evidence Conradie still tried to explain his crimes away, “He [Conradie] admitted to this [selling the New Balance shoes for cash outside the shop] and has a long story about why he did this to benefit our store, etc. It was complete nonsense.”
Conradie also quickly ingratiated himself with as many Auckland Strava running groups* as he could and borrowed money from several unsuspecting runners. Roland du Plessis tracked down several runners on Strava who had loaned him “money for rent until his salary comes in.” The Boshoffs also told me, “A leader from one of the largest run clubs in Auckland rang to ask about Tiaan as he is asking various people to lend him money.”
* The NARC, SSRC, Owairaka Athletics and the 445 run clubs in particular
Fortunately, Conradie’s arrival in Auckland coincided with this social media post starting the investigation into Conradie’s crimes: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15tNfAz9xa/?mibextid=WC7FNe. The Boshoffs were quickly alerted that they had employed a crook and contacted me via a mutual acquaintance, “We employed Tiaan Conradie in NZ completely oblivious to his past dealings in the running community. We were made aware of your FB post and were shocked”.
In an early morning chat with the Boshoffs, they explained they have a small family business and that reputation is everything in a closeknit community like Auckland. As such they were naturally concerned about the potential threat to the financial future of their young family but still wanted to be fair to Conradie. Whilst I said that I could not tell them what to do with Conradie, I explained that the evidence against him was damning and put them in touch with Clive Chowles from Brooks and Roland du Plessis who were both more forthright in their advice.
Burgling Brooks
Chowles took pity on Conradie after bumping into him after the Varsity Kudus road race one year just over a decade ago. He reported that Conradie was “looking terrible and I took pity on him.” Conradie painted a sob story about getting divorced and being “down on his luck.” Chowles is the Brooks distributor in South Africa and, seeing a fellow runner in distress, offered Conradie a job.
Suffice to say that Conradie repaid Chowles’ kindness by robbing him and others dry. Chowles took the time to explain to me the various schemes that Conradie used to thieve from Brooks as well as running stores on a level that borders on grand larceny. When Chowles questioned Conradie about missing items and suspicious activities, Conradie was always apologetic and had some excuse or semi-plausible explanation lined up. Chowles eventually set up a sting operation and caught Conradie red-handed.
At the annual stock take, conducted a few months after Conradie was fired, it emerged that a further R700,000 rands worth of various stock was missing from the warehouse. Whilst Conradie did not deny being fired from Brooks for theft he denied any additional stock theft. However, when I showed Chowles the email with Conradie’s denial he told me, “Post him [Conradie] being fired we did a full audit of the stock and R700k was missing (maybe not all because of Tiaan but a good R600K at his hands). Tiaan was one of the very few people with direct access to this stock.” Furthermore, Chowles explained, “He [Conradie] was flying to Plett every second weekend to see his girlfriend. This is a costly exercise when you are earning R15k a month. And you still have to pay for rent, food, transport and daily living? It was funded out of stock stolen from our warehouse.”
Turning Another Golden Opportunities into Mud
Despite talking to Chowles and du Plessis, the Boshoffs were undecided whether dismissing Conradie was the morally correct action to take. Conradie put on his patented puppy dog look and drew on his years of perfecting the, “I’ve made mistakes, I’m taking accountability and I’m trying to turn my life around” speech. Conradie pulled hard on the Boshoff’s heartstrings and played on their emotions. He almost convinced them to give him ‘one last chance.’ However, Conradie couldn’t stop his thieving as was fired.
Said Boshoff, “To be honest, we were contemplating giving him a second chance and help him make right with all you guys that he stole from in the past. But – we are beyond that now. We are struggling (like I’m sure you all already have been through) to understand how it is possible for him not to realise how he is just making a complete mess of his life while all the opportunities are given to him to make something of himself.”
I was subsequently advised that he was close to getting a Store Leader job at The Surf Warehouse in Auckland until they contacted one of his former victims (who Conradie, bewilderingly, had used as a reference) for a reference check.
The reference said, “Employing Tiaan Conradie will be a massive mistake. He is a con artist who has taken/stolen from runners, clubs and sport retailers. He has a very bad reputation in South Africa to the extent that he cannot find work in the sports trade.
He has run out of options and has now moved to NZ. It will just be a matter of time until you feel the losses that will follow if you employ Tiaan.
Tiaan is a very smooth talker/operator and will tell you everything you want to hear and even shed a few tears to validate his story and that he’s looking for a new beginning and life. Things will run smoothly and then very subtly small things will start happening with a valid reason as to why.”
The reference concluded with an unequivocal, “He is a crook and a con man. DO NOT EMPLOY THIS MAN“
New Zealand, New Opportunities, Same Scams
Unsurprisingly, Conradie did not get the job. At the time of writing, Conradie is understood to remain at large in New Zealand and is still active on Strava (although he has made all his social media profiles private). Based on his track record, it is doubtful that his modus operandi will change regardless of the opportunities he is presented with. Unfortunately, there is very little that the legal system does to protect society from a pathological career criminal like Conradie. It is highly likely that he’ll continue to prey on the trust of the running community. It’s just a question of where he will pop up next.
Disclaimer
Some names within this article have been changed to protect the identity of the victims.
Afterword
An extensive dossier of Conradie’s victims has been put together in an attempt to get some justice.
Conradie’s credit check is still fairly clean. I would strongly suggest that those scammed ensure you go through the necessary bureaucracy to ensure that there is an official record which will make it much more difficult for Conradie to continue his scams if and when he returns to South Africa.
Currently a joint case is being put together with the assistance of a legal fraud and scam expert.
If you have been scammed, please contact this email: reportingtfd@gmail.com for further advice and to be added to the joint effort.
Or perhaps someone might want to print some “Flying Dutchman’s shoe specials” flyers and leave them lying around the Eden Park dressing rooms…
The Anatomy of a Scam
The attached is a WhatsApp transcript that provides a good example of the lengths and deception that Conradie went to in his scamming. An unfortunate victim is strung along for months after buying some Nike VaporFlys for a birthday present complete with fake orders, fake courier documents, fake apology letters from Nike and fake proof of payments.
Conradie’s Known Online Profiles
| Strava | https://strava.app.link/ioXE2W4rmNb |
| Facebook & Facebook Messenger | https://www.facebook.com/tiaan.conradie |
| Facebook / Facebook Group | https://www.facebook.com/groups/ticonradietfd.co.za/discussion/preview |
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiaan-conradie-2582a831/ | |
| YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZAIxjQ88dzallRsbotW0Vw/videos |
| https://mobile.twitter.com/ticonradietfd | |
| @tiaanc75 | |
| Email Address | ticonradietfd@gmail.com |
| Gumtree | TBC |
| FNB bank account | 62740152096 |
| Capitec account | 2032869337 |
| Discovery Bank account | 13692563058 |
| Tyme Bank account | TBC |
| +27 76 820 1920 |
Should you have more info to contribute to this table please contact reportingtfd@gmail.com so that this article can be updated.
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Hi Stuart,
Most interesting, I live in NZ and was wondering if you have any idea where this bloke might be living?
Let me know when you have a moment.
Many thanks,
Rob.
Hi Rob, I’ll drop you an email.
He just tried to scam us renting our apartment. Presented a false bank transfer statement but money was not turning up in our account. After 3 days and lots of promises I ended up forceably evicting him.