Harkirat Kaur Assi, a Kenyan of Asian origin currently living in the UK was featured by an American media house after she was catfished by a close family member.
During the interview on Vice News, Assi narrated how her own cousin created multiple fake Facebook accounts in the name of a Mr Bobby and started creating an emotional connection with her before eventually dating.
She disclosed that she was hesitant at first but 'Bobby' managed to convince her after sharing personal details about her family. At the time, the man claimed that he was a close friend of her cousin, the mastermind of the catfish.
"I was not going to be rude to someone who was connected to my extended family. One time he even thanked me for being a sister figure for his younger brother and I was so overwhelmed.
"It was gradual and he would talk about things about his life. We are from a South Asian community in Kenya and that community is really close-knit. He was slowly establishing a relationship with me," she told the news outlet.
However, Assi stated that she started noticing that something was amiss after she met the real Bobby whose images and name were being used by the cousin at an entertainment joint in the UK.
"I was out at a weekend in Brighton and I saw Bobby. He acknowledged me but he looked very confused. At the time, I thought that he was probably drunk. It did not raise an alarm as I knew that he was real."
Afterward, the Facebook account became inactive. In an interesting twist, her cousin informed her that Bobby has passed away, further showing her pictures of his burial. The cousin would later call her with the news that Bobby was alive and in the US.
"After a few months, my cousin called me and told me that Bobby was alive and that he was in witness protection. I did not know what to do. People around me told me that he was in love with me," she stated.
Assi stated that Bobby often used his illness to manipulate her and eventually led to her quitting her job as she was experiencing stress.
"He always needed assurance from me. Looking back I do not think that he was a person. I even quit my job due to the stress."
Later, she reported the matter to police and hired a private investigator on suspicion that she was being catfished. It was the private investigator who unravelled the mystery and traced the conversations to her cousin's house.
"After realising that I had caught her red-handed, my cousin confessed to having created 60 fake Facebook accounts with the aim of catfishing me. My cousin confessed that she orchestrated the whole thing. She did not tell me why," added Assi.
The matter was reported to the police in the UK who are still carrying out investigations.
