Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare. Reader's discretion is advised.
Netflix continues to present viewers with some of the most shocking cases, such as the upcoming true-crime documentary Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, which features how Kirat Assi becomes a catfishing victim.
The documentary is based on the true events from 2009 when a Sikh woman in her 30s was believed to have found her soulmate, Bobby. However, when the truth came to light, Kirat Assi was shattered and couldn't believe she lived a lie for over half a decade.
Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is slated to hit Netflix on October 16, 2024, featuring Assi as she narrates her story. She opened up about years of emotional harm she encountered and how catfishing ruined her life when she found out that the real Bobby didn't even know her.
Uncovering the true story behind Netflix's Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare
In today's world, online dating has been normalized among youngsters, who often find people matching their ideal types on apps/websites. However, this also has a dark side nobody wants to encounter.
While online dating may bring exposure to new people, it also comes with severe consequences, which can damage an individual's mental health. Similar was the case with a UK resident, Kirat Assi, in 2009, when she got a friend request from a man called Bobby on her Facebook account.
As revealed by Assi herself, her friendship with Bobby transformed into a romantic relationship after exchanging thousands of texts. Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare unveils how Bobby pretended to be an incredibly caring and responsible man until Kirat discovered the sad reality.
The documentary highlights the time when Kirat Assi often urged Bobby to meet her, but the man would never show up. Bobby continued alleging his mental health, personal trauma, and even being shot and hospitalized. Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare comes after Tortoise Media's Sweet Bobby podcast, in which Assi detailed her traumatic experience.
While speaking about the scam in the podcast, Assi detailed that she would make hours of video calls with Bobby without pressurizing him to turn his video on. One day, Assi found his address, confronted the real Bobby, and discovered that someone had scammed her for years. She said:
"It was a slow destruction of everything I had. Bobby targeted every part of my life – my career, my dreams, my hopes, my relationship with family, with friends, my studies"
The scammer, or fake Bobby, claimed that he lived in London, but after searching his home, Assi found out he lived in Brighton. After confronting the real person, Assi's heart dropped as she learned she was a catfish victim.
She was convinced that Bobby was the one, but all her dreams turned into nightmares. The documentary includes exclusive interviews with the subject and her family members to delve deeper into this true catfishing case.
Who was the scammer involved in catfishing Kirat Assi?
After discovering she was catfished, Kirat Assi encountered another shocking revelation about the scammer. While many would think he must be a stalker or someone obsessed with Assi, the scammer turned out to be Kirat Assi's cousin Simran Bhogal.
She confessed to stealing Bobby's identity to trick Assi and said "It was me, I was Bobby, I was all of them". Not only this, but the victim's pain intensified after the police explained to her, saying, "You’re not the victim; [the real Bobby] is." This led to her deteriorating mental health and shock over learning that catfishing wasn't even considered a crime.
However, Assi filed a lawsuit against her cousin over harassment and won the case. She regretted being tricked by a family member but didn't stop moving on with her life.
Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare on Netflix comes out on October 16, 2024.
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