It all started with a friend request.
Kirat Assi thought she’d hit the jackpot when Bobby, a handsome cardiologist, got in touch with her in 2009.
He wasn’t a total stranger. The pair were both from west London’s Sikh community and had mutual friends in common.
So, Kirat accepted, and her online chats developed into deeper conversations before blossoming into a full-on love story.
The two became more and more entangled in each other’s lives but they never met, even after years of correspondence.
Bobby would provide increasingly outlandish excuses. He’d had a stroke. He’d been shot. He had entered witness protection.
The tall tales, though, were always backed up by someone close to Bobby – or so Kirat thought.
In truth, she was the victim of a wildly elaborate and traumatising catfishing scheme.
After nine years, when the excuses ran thin, Kirat finally came face-to-face with Bobby.
But she didn’t recognise the person in front of her.
The person she’d been messaging was her female cousin, Simran, who had been the brains behind everything.
Looking back now, Kirat asks herself: “How could you have been so stupid?”
