The downfall of Tyson Vacher, from GT Fridays to psychology scams

Those in Perth are likely to already know the name Tyson Vacher, and probably not for the best reasons. 

Over the last five years, Perth-based Vacher has become synonymous with his publicity-seeking stunts and scams, which began in the music and club promotion world before reaching out into other areas - hospitality, charity, health - in the years since, usually after a slight name change or period of quietness. He’s notorious for his ‘antics’, constantly in search of the spotlight - negatively, usually - and he always gets it, whether it comes in the form of making national news (a few times now) or comment threads that often see hundreds of people go deep into their association with Vacher, and how he’s treated them in the past.

Now, it appears it’s gone a step too far. His most recent affair - as uncovered last week - came in the form of a faux psychology clinic titled John Vacher Psychology, based in North Fremantle as completely operating, ‘registered’ psychology clinic. On their website, he boasted about being “a member of the Australian Counsellors' Association” with “10 years' experience,” including “a PhD and a qualification from the University of Southern Queensland.” That - plus registration through AHPRA (the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) and proper training - does give you the grounds to be a practising psychologist, however at only 23-years-old, Tyson Vacher had none of it, and it was all a fraud.

This morning, he was charged with fraud and falsely representing himself as a health practitioner after a raid on the clinic’s North Fremantle office and his own home, taken into custody after being arrested at his office. Earlier today, he pled guilty in court - despite telling reporters at his arrest that he was innocent (without explaining what he was actually innocent for, which probably isn’t a great move). 

Nothing quite says professional psychology like finger guns at your clients.

However, his actions as a qualified psychologist probably isn’t the first time you’ve come across Vacher. Initially, he built a profile through GT Fridays - the infamous club night we branded Australia’s worst - that provided an “exclusive golden triangle event” for those living in Perth’s more affluent, high-income areas. It was an invite-only affair only open to those from a specific range of expensive, mostly private Perth schools - “exceptions made if you’re extremely classy and not a complete derro” - that eventually had the absolute piss taken out of it, to the point where he branded it a ‘publicity stunt’. 

“He sent me a private message saying I would be ‘approved’ if I sent him my postcode, date of birth and mobile number – obviously I said no,” said someone who was invited to the event from Vacher’s personal page, who came forward to Perth Now after our article on the event broke into state news. A private club night where you can only attend if you - a girl, who went to a private school - would message a random person your mobile number and date of birth? It doesn’t take a genius to work out it was a bit of a scam to get some numbers from a few girls out of his league.

The event was shut down, with the venue where it was operating - Club Kahuna, Subiaco - telling people they wouldn’t be discriminated from entering due to their background.

However, that was just the beginning. Vacher has also run charities - he’s the apparent CEO of Street Aid, an organisation that has been scrubbed from the internet after comments on social media called the homelessness charity a scam - and shown up here and there with other small, scam-looking businesses and opportunities. “The 18-year-old said he was currently the national project coordinator, senior portfolio manager, executive director, board chairman and founding partner of seven different companies – each with no web presence beyond his LinkedIn page,” Perth Now reported with their coverage of the GT Fridays event back in 2015.

Then, came his next scam - waitering. Back in 2017, Vacher found himself in hot water due to Black Tie Waiters, a company run by the still-teenager that’d lease their waitering staff out to clients for weddings, birthdays, engagement parties and other events. As it turned out, however, many of his ‘waiters’ - almost all of them - never showed up, leaving people thousands out of pocket after paying deposits, and needing to take care of their own events with his waitering staff unavailable.

In September 2017, he was taken to court by four of his clients who had no-shows, and was instructed to pay $7500 in fines, compensation and costs; four charges of $1000 for accepting payment but failing to supply all required goods and services, then additional compensation costs for the people he ripped off. 

Now, with the psychology clinic drama and multiple charges held against him, the downfall of Tyson Vacher has arrived - and we’re sure it’s just the start. 

Since the current news has thrown the name back into the spotlight, many have spoken about their own experiences with Vacher over the years. One woman came forward saying he “leaked my nudes,” another spoke about witnessing him allegedly harass and abuse family members, another spoke about the numerous fights he’d allegedly start in club smoking areas and pubs, alleged screenshots have come through of him joking about sexually and physically abusing women on at least two occasions, while others have come from people he allegedly messaged - as a 19-year-old - when they "were only 14."

The fall of one of Perth’s most notoriously shitty characters has arrived, and now we’re hearing that the dress code for the new GT Fridays is prison orange jumpsuits.