Sweet Bobby actress who represented catfish Simran Bhogal in Netflix documentary discusses 'psycho' abuse

The actress, who is known only as Bambi online, represents Simran Bhogal in true life documentary Sweet Bobby. Bhogal scammed her own cousin, Kirat Assi, in to believing she was in a relationship with a man called Bobby Jandu for almost a decade.

The new show, which aired on the streaming platform last week, iased on Tortoise Media's podcast of the same name, Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare. It tells the story of London-based radio presenter Kirat Assi, who believed she was in an almost decade long relationship with wealthy doctor Bobby Jandu after befriending him on Facebook - only to them discover it was all a lie.

After thinking she had been repeatedly let down by Jandu, who she thought she was engaged to, Assi hired a private investigator to find him and finally be able to meet him in person for the first time.

It was after she went to Jandu’s house and confronted him that the real Jandu - who was also a victim of Bhogal and had no idea who Assi was - that Boghal admitted to her cousin that she had been posing as Jandu all along.

She admitted she had masterminded an elaborate scheme, including creating over 60 Facebook profiles, to keep Assi believing her lies. She even took the identities of multiple real people who were connected to Jandu, including his wife Sanj. Bhogal knew Jandu and was able to steal his identity because she had once dated his family member. It’s not known why she scammed her cousin. Boghal, who was approached by Netflix but declined to be involved in the documentary, does not appear in the show and her true likeness is not used. Instead, she is portrayed using actress Bambi's face as the profile picture on her Facebook page. It is only at the end of the documentary, however, that viewers are informed that an actress's face has been used to portray the scammer.

Bambi, a 21-year-old actress who appears to be based in the United Kingdom, has now been forced to make a TikTok to reaffirm that she is not actually the scammer. In the video, she revealed she's been approached by people “on the street” who want to ask her about Sweet Bobby and has also been on the receiving end of online abuse.

TikToker @barmzgottalent shared a video of herself dancing to The Ting Tings' hit 'That's Not My Name' as a response to the 'psycho allegations' from viewers.

Her caption reads: 'People stop me on the street to ask about the new Netflix show Sweet Bobby, so here's my response. “Are you Simran Bhogal? Yes! Obviously,' she replied, sarcastically. “Did you catfish your own cousin for 10 years? “Yes, I started catfishing when I was 10!' she continued, highlighting her age and how much younger she is than the actual Boghan, who will now of course be around a decade older than she was at the time of her deceit.

She finished the video with a 'disclaimer' that read: “This is a joke. I'm not Simran Bhogal but I won't deny the psycho allegations.”

In another video, she also claimed that lots of people are now stopping to stare at her in the street, which has made her feel “paranoid”, and loved ones have raised concerns for her safety as a result. She added that her parents had been left “deeply disturbed” by seeing their daughter’s face coming up on their TV and being linked with the scam.

Her video drew mixed reactions from other TikTok users, with several people questioning why she would agree to represent Simran in the first place. “How does one sign up for that?” one person asked.

Another user said: “I genuinely thought you was (sic) the real person when watching it until the end when it says your (sic) an actor. So imagine the people who switched off half way.”

A disclaimer doesn’t appear to state that Bhogal is portrayed by an actress until the end of the documentary, which is where some of the confusion has come from. A statment added that the real Bhogal had declined to be interviewed, but denied the “numerous unfounded” and “damaging” allegations in a statement she gave to Netflix.

It read: “This matter involves events that began when she was a schoolgirl. She considers it a private matter and strongly objects to what she describes as numerous unfounded and damaging accusations.”

Several TikTok users, however, said that it was clear that the images used weren’t actually Bhogal. One person said: “It literally says it in the show that all photos are portrayed by actors. Anyone who asks you if you’re the real Simran are ridiculous.”

Others said they thought Netflix should have used an AI-generated picture instead of recruiting an actor to portray the scammer, and the confusion and resulting difficulr situation for the actress would have been avoided.

“They could have just made a fake face with AI. Why did they use a real person? Well at least you got paid for it, and they did make it clear that you were an actress and not the actual Simran,” one person said.

Other than her name, details about the real Bhogal remain unknown two years after the podcast was originally released.

Assi’s ordeal began in 2010 and lasted for eight years. She was told multiple lies over that time as to why the man she thought was a fiance couldn’t meet her in person, including being in the witness protection programme and suffering a heart attack.

When she tracked the real Jandu down to his house in Brighton, he did not know her was unnerved by the fact she knew lots of personal details about him including his wife and baby son’s name. Confused and fearing for his family’s safety, he called the police.

It was then that Boghan realised she had no choice but to confess. She texted Jandu to admit what she had done and went to her Assi’s hosue to tell her “it was all me” on June 11 2018.

On Tortoise's podcast, Kirat, now aged 44, said she “vomited” and “passed out” after her cousin told her she had been impersonating Bobby all along. “I kept screaming at her. Why, why did you do this, why would you do this,” she recalled.

'"Ten years of my life, you've stolen ten years of my life. How could you be so sick. You had every chance to stop. You had a million and one chances to stop. I tried to end the relationship so many times. What did I do to deserve this,” she added.

Bhogal was not prosecuted for catfishing Assi because it is not a criminal offence in the UK. Assi pursued a civil action against her cousin in 2020, and she privately apologised and agreed to an out-of-court financial settlement.

In her video, actress Bambi revealed she had also been a victim of catfishing and, although she did not go in to details of her own experience, she said she can “understand the sinking feeling of everything crashing to the ground”.