Over sixty characters, thousands of messages and eight years of lies and exploitation - this could be one of the world’s most sophisticated catfishing scams.

At the centre of this story is radio host Kirat Assi who received a Facebook message in 2009 from a handsome cardiologist called Bobby. Kirat was slowly reeled into Bobby’s world and eventually duped into an intimate relationship with him. She was manipulated, coerced and tricked, she lost friends and her career.

When the scam fell apart in 2018, the catfisher was someone Kirat was not expecting. Alexi Mostrous and Claudia Williams from Tortoise Media ask why the police didn’t take the case seriously and was a crime actually committed?

If you think you may be in an abusive relationship, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or visit their website, thehotline.org. For the UK call The Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge on 0808 2000 247 for free at any time, day or night.
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