Unknown Number Fans Just Found Their Next Netflix Obsession

If you just blasted through Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and you are still side-eyeing every DM, Netflix has another one that is just as jaw-dropping and, honestly, even more personal. Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is a British true-crime doc that sneaks up on you and then keeps getting stranger. It is adapted from the 2021 podcast of the same name, and the twist here is not just who did it, but how absurdly elaborate the whole thing gets.

The setup: a decade-long romance with a ghost

The film centers on Kirat Assi, a successful radio presenter in London who is ready to find her person after ending an 18-year relationship. There is cultural context here too: she is from a Sikh family that values marriage and commitment, and while her parents wanted her to be happy, she felt the pressure herself.

Enter Bobby Jandu, a handsome cardiologist with ties to the London Sikh community, supposedly based in Kenya, who starts chatting with her on Facebook. Mutual friends on social media make him look legit. It starts friendly, then turns into a full-on long-distance relationship that stretches close to 10 years. At one point he even announces he is getting married to someone else, but that relationship conveniently falls apart as his bond with Kirat deepens. Perfectly messy.

Red flags, then full-on sirens

Bobby never meets in person. The reasons escalate from annoying to cinematic: he claims he is in witness protection in New York after being shot in Kenya during a shady business deal. When Kirat asks how he can be chatting if he is in witness protection, he says he is breaking the rules for her. Other times he is supposedly hospitalized with life-threatening conditions, with photos to prove it.

Meanwhile he gets controlling. He wants to know where she is, what she is doing, and insists she be on her computer and available for him constantly. He even tests her devotion with a bizarre hypothetical about joining ISIS. Kirat’s instinctive answer?

'Hell no'

But because she believes he is fragile and ill, she swallows her own alarm and stays.

The doorstep twist

Years in, Kirat hires a private investigator and tracks down Bobby’s last known address. She goes there. A man who looks exactly like the photos answers the door. He says he has never spoken to her in his life. He is married to a woman named Sanj. While Kirat is still processing that, her phone rings. It is 'Bobby' calling.

Yes, this actually happened. Inside baseball note: this is one of those doc moments where you think the story has peaked, and then it casually takes a harder left turn.

Who was really behind Bobby?

The catfish was not a stranger. It was Kirat’s cousin, Simran Bhogal.

The deception started years earlier when Bhogal’s ex-boyfriend (using a fake identity called JJ) reached out to Kirat on Facebook, supposedly trying to win Bhogal back. Then 'JJ' suddenly 'died' from an allergic reaction, and Kirat was introduced to 'JJ’s brother' Bobby for support. From there, Bhogal built an entire digital universe around the fake man: roughly 60 fabricated profiles of 'family' and 'friends' who texted, consoled, and kept the lie airtight.

Why? Control. Bhogal wanted Kirat emotionally tethered to the relationship and the family orbit. Jealousy factors in, but it also morphed into obsession. The more complicated the lie became, the more power it gave her.

The fallout

Kirat went to the police, but because the real Bobby had his identity stolen, she was told he was technically the primary victim. And since there was no specific law against catfishing, there were no criminal charges for Bhogal.

So Kirat filed a civil case for misuse of private information and harassment. The result: Bhogal paid what Kirat describes as

'substantial damages'

Through all of this, Kirat is not out for blood. She wanted accountability, not a dogpile. She also hopes the case pushes lawmakers to get serious about online deception and what it does to people’s lives.

• Source material: based on the 2021 podcast 'Sweet Bobby'
• The lie: nearly 10 years of messages, calls, and staged crises
• The excuses: witness protection in NYC after a shooting in Kenya; repeated hospitalizations with photo proof
• The control: constant check-ins, emotional manipulation, loyalty tests
• The reveal: the real Bobby exists and is married; the fake Bobby was Kirat’s cousin, Simran Bhogal
• The scale: around 60 fake profiles built to sell the story
• The legal outcome: no criminal charges; civil suit ends with damages paid to Kirat
• The vibe: if Unknown Number hooked you, this scratches that same it-was-someone-close itch

Bottom line

Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is not flashy. It does not need to be. The slow-burn insanity of the scam, the family angle, and the knock-you-back doorstep scene make it one of the wildest catfish stories Netflix has touched — and that is saying something.

Where to watch and who made it

Now streaming on Netflix. Directed by Lyttanya Shannon. Runtime is 82 minutes. Release date: October 16, 2024.