A woman at the centre of a new Netflix documentary exposing what's believed to be the longest-known catfishing scam on record has spoken out on the harrowing ordeal.
Events assistant and radio presenter Kirat Assi, from West London, thought she'd met the one when she started chatting to a man named Bobby Jandu on Facebook in 2009.
On paper, he seemed perfect; he was a cardiologist, and they both shared a love for the Sikh community in London.
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But Kirat had no clue that when she forged this relationship, she was walking right into one of the most horrific cases of catfishing involving up to 60 characters.
If that wasn't bad enough, Kirat would be dealt a stomach-turning blow when she found out who was behind the elaborate web of lies.
Having used the identity of a man Kirat had briefly met before, the pair struck up a friendship before things turned romantic in 2015.
But there were things that were a bit off about 'Bobby'.
In classic catfish nature, whenever Kirat tried to connect with Bobby in person, something would get in the way.
He also divulged several big claims about his life, including that he was shot six times in Kenya and suffered from poor health including a stroke, brain tumour, and a heart attack, and even that he had fathered a secret child.
Kirat did question how unlucky someone could be to have endured all of that, but when several of 'Bobby's' family and friends validated his claims, she didn't think anything else of it.
The couple would frequently exchange voice notes and texts, but towards the end of their relationship, Kirat says 'Bobby' began to get controlling.
Speaking to Sky News ahead of the documentary's release, she recalled: "I started to lose weight… It was coercive control, to a point where you're thoroughly being abused, where you don't have any sense of yourself left anymore. And you're just scared all the time."
But there was more horror to come.
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After her suspicions around Bobby grew, as his behaviour escalated, Kirat hired a private investigator, who traced him to Brighton.
Hoping to finally confront him, Kirat turned up on his doorstep - but when the real Bobby opened the door, he was terrified and confused about the whole situation.
And just the next day, the lies all came tumbling down, as no other than Kirat's cousin drove down to her house and confessed it had been them acting as Bobby the entire time.
Even worse, the other people - including up to 60 other characters acting as 'Bobby's' friends and family - were actually Kirat's distant relatives.
Off the back of the deception, heartbreakingly, Kirat is often asked the same question by people after the jaw-dropping ordeal was exposed.
"People say, 'How can you be so stupid?' That's the constant question you get. But none of us [victims] are stupid. It's just the perpetrator's gone the extra mile," she admitted.
Despite the fact the lies and betrayal went on for nearly a decade, no crime has technically been committed.
That's because catfishing - the act of using fake profiles and pretending to be somebody else to dupe others - isn't actually a crime in the UK.
However, in 2020, Kirat won a civil action case against her cousin, which was settled out of court.
Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is available to watch on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Documentaries
Chloe Jackson