Sweet Bobby

Sweet Bobby tells the story of a catfishing scheme so elaborate and long-running that it sounds made up — except it is not. Over the course of a decade, a woman named Kirat Assi was drawn into a fake online relationship with a man she believed was a real cardiologist named Bobby. The deception involved dozens of fabricated social media profiles, fake family members, and manufactured emergencies that consumed years of Kirat's life. Host Alexi Mostrous from Tortoise Media unravels the whole thing across six tightly constructed episodes, each one peeling back another layer of the scam. The production values are strong, with sound design by Karla Patella that gives the show a cinematic quality without overdoing it. What makes Sweet Bobby stand out from the flood of catfishing content is the sheer scale of the deception and the emotional toll it takes. This was not some quick online scam — it was a sustained psychological manipulation that affected every part of the victim's life. The series hit number one on podcast charts and won multiple awards, eventually getting adapted into a Netflix documentary in late 2024. At around six hours total, it is a tight listen that does not waste your time with filler episodes or unnecessary recaps. Mostrous keeps the investigation moving at a pace that makes it genuinely hard to stop after just one episode. The reveal of who was actually behind the scheme is both shocking and, in hindsight, heartbreakingly close to home.