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“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.
RELATED:
A woman who was catfished for almost a decade spoke out after being labeled “stupid“ and “gullible“ by viewers
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.
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
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.
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. “
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What do you think ?
Atom Bohr 1 month 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.
S Mi 1 month ago (edited)
Louder for those at the back! Also these things happen over time, start slowly and started like 15 years ago. When it never occurred to us how far someone might go to fool us.
Load More Replies...
Max Fox 1 month ago
I can understand somebody slowly going down the sort of rabbit hole that the victim went down, though it is somewhat extreme. What I really cannot even begin to understand is her cousin who catfished her. The amount of effort that was required to keep this up is astounding, and I cannot see what the cousin gained from it. Does her cousin hate her that much?
Zoe Vokes 1 month ago
I want to know the reason (but not enough to watch the documentary). Did cousin do it “for fun,” because of jealousy or because she hated her cousin. It’s beyond cruel to do that for ten years. The victim might have met a real man and fallen in love if she wasn’t wasting a decade on a fake man.
Load More Replies...
Angrykitten 1 month 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.
V 1 month ago
I worry about my MIL. She does get sucked in a lot to MLMs and cult like shops- she would be a prime target.
Load More Replies... Atom Bohr 1 month 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.
S Mi 1 month ago (edited)
Louder for those at the back! Also these things happen over time, start slowly and started like 15 years ago. When it never occurred to us how far someone might go to fool us.
Load More Replies... Max Fox 1 month ago
I can understand somebody slowly going down the sort of rabbit hole that the victim went down, though it is somewhat extreme. What I really cannot even begin to understand is her cousin who catfished her. The amount of effort that was required to keep this up is astounding, and I cannot see what the cousin gained from it. Does her cousin hate her that much?
Zoe Vokes 1 month ago
I want to know the reason (but not enough to watch the documentary). Did cousin do it “for fun,” because of jealousy or because she hated her cousin. It’s beyond cruel to do that for ten years. The victim might have met a real man and fallen in love if she wasn’t wasting a decade on a fake man.
Load More Replies... Angrykitten 1 month 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.
V 1 month ago
I worry about my MIL. She does get sucked in a lot to MLMs and cult like shops- she would be a prime target.
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