“I’m Not Stupid”: Woman Catfished By Cousin For 10 Years Defends Herself After Getting Mocked

“Stupid and desperate,” Netflix viewers labeled 43-year-old Kirat Assi after spending nearly ten years believing she was in a romantic relationship with a man named Bobby Jandu, only to later discover it was all a hoax orchestrated by her cousin.

The woman’s story became infamous after it was featured in the Sweet Bobby podcast, a series that focuses on catfishers, people who falsify their identities online to get into relationships with people and scam them.

Highlights

Assi was catfished for nearly ten years by her cousin using a fake identity.
The story was featured in the 'Sweet Bobby' podcast and a Netflix documentary.
Assi hopes her story will help others who suffer in silence to come forward.
Assi was mocked for believing bizarre stories, but she encourages speaking up.

Assi’s testimony became so popular that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary, which made its debut last Wednesday (October 1&). However, with the increased attention came both recognition and criticism.

“She seems desperate. Ten years!? I can’t believe she fell for something like this,“ one viewer said.

“I’m not stupid. I’m not dumb. I’m the one who chose to speak up,“ Assi said in an interview with the BBC, addressing those who were calling her gullible.

A woman who was catfished for almost a decade spoke out after being labeled “stupid“ and “gullible“ by viewers

"I'm Not Stupid": Woman Catfished By Cousin For 10 Years Defends Herself After Getting Mocked

Image credits: Netflix

“I’m the one that’s put herself in the firing line, and I hope others will come forward,“ she added, hoping that her story would bring light to the issue and help those suffering in silence.

Assi spent years talking to her catfish, a supposed cardiologist with whom she spent more than nine years talking. Their conversations were deep and intimate, with Assi forming a profound emotional bond with the supposed “Bobby.”

Their interactions would advance to the point of becoming sexual. Still, the pair never met in person due to the catfish’s increasingly bizarre excuses, from suffering a brain tumor to being shot. Bobby’s accounts were backed up by supposed family members who, of course, were also fake.

"I'm Not Stupid": Woman Catfished By Cousin For 10 Years Defends Herself After Getting Mocked

Image credits: Netflix

Eventually, after nine years of communication, Assi managed to track down the real Bobby, at least according to what she deduced from the photos the catfish sent her. However, upon finally meeting the man of her dreams, he had no idea who she was.

The truth finally emerged when her cousin, Simran Bhogal, confessed to creating Bobby and a completely fabricated social network of friends and family around the fake man to facilitate the deception.

**While talking to the BBC, Assi explained that she doesn’t know or understand why her cousin decided to deceive her for so many years**

"I'm Not Stupid": Woman Catfished By Cousin For 10 Years Defends Herself After Getting Mocked

Image credits: Netflix

“The extent to which that person went, you can’t ever justify it,“ she said. “I can’t understand why she didn’t stop or why she felt pleasure from hearing somebody in pain.”

The catfishing was seemingly an attempt by Simran to get close, sentimentally, to Assi. The interactions began in November 2010, when she created a fake profile of her supposed ex-boyfriend.

Simran then made up a story straight out of a telenovela, with her supposed ex-boyfriend dying and “Bobby,” his brother, stepping in to receive her condolences.

"I'm Not Stupid": Woman Catfished By Cousin For 10 Years Defends Herself After Getting Mocked

Image credits: Netflix

“Bobby“ and Assi struck a friendship, with the latter stating that she saw the former as a “little brother.“ Simran, however, decided to add further drama to the story and invented the situation of Bobby being shot.

The outlandish nature of the catfish’s stories was one of the main reasons Assi was mocked online, a fact that she acknowledged.

“It’s ridiculous, I know,“ she said. “But at every step, these mad happenings were being backed up by other people.”

Unable to keep the facade for longer, Simran confessed the truth on June 11, 2018, with Assi “vomiting“ and “passing out“ upon receiving the news.

“She has taken ten years of my life from me, years I will not get back. “

"I'm Not Stupid": Woman Catfished By Cousin For 10 Years Defends Herself After Getting Mocked

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Abel is a journalist at Bored Panda. Born in Santiago, Chile, he holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication and a diploma in International Relations. In his spare time, you can find him tinkering with his motorbike, playing with his dog, or reading a good novel.

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I am employed as a Visual Editor in the news team. I make sure you have the best pictures near the most interesting text. In general all day I am looking at all you favourite celebrities facies and I am geting payed for it!

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What do you think ?

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Sergio Bicerra 17 minutes ago

Sorry but if after 10 months, not even years, I haven't got a video call or anything that proves you're real, I'm done. There's not victim blaming but let's just be real: there's no way you can believe you have a relationship with someone for 10 years and haven't even met them. Is just plain stupid.

2points

Atom Bohr 29 minutes ago

Why are people so focused on the actions of the victim rather than being outraged at the perpetrator? Yes, all of us could do more to protect ourselves from the miriad risks in life, but not one of us is perfect, so maybe we could all start having more sympathy for the victims, because they're often far more like us than the one who caused the harm.

1point

Angrykitten 36 minutes ago

The judgement levied on people who fall victim to catfish scams or any scam really makes people report it less. Which only benefits the scammers! Check in with your loved ones and if you see warning signs gently and lovingly try to encourage them to try to put aside the feelings and try to look at what is happening with logic. Scammers are cunning and know the types of people who are likely to fall for a scam and how to identify them. I watched this documentary and the cousin played so many roles that they brilliantly built a web of "people" to in essence create alibis. Out of all of the catfish documentaries I have watched this was the first one where I actually understood how they could get roped in.

1point