LAST WEEK, AN Australian man named Phuc Dat Bich went viral for having the most unfortunate name on the planet.
He shared an image of his passport and wrote, “I find it highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it.”
The story was picked up by countless media outlets and shared all over social media after he outlined his frustrations at having his Facebook profile repeatedly shut down.
On Monday, he thanked people for their support in a Facebook status.
I’d like to mention that I am very grateful to those who have been supportive of certain names that populate in different cultures. We live in a diverse and multicultural society and the fact that there are people out there who are supportive and encouraging really makes me happy.
Yesterday, however, an Australian journalist named Trevor Long posted an article in which he wondered if Bich was in fact trolling the media.
This is a question of “internet evidence” leading the media on a wild goose chase. What is the evidence? His Passport. Not that a journalist from any of the above organisation have sighted his Passport – that he posted a photo of his passport on Facebook.
Right now, I think that Passport photo is photoshopped. And I’m happy, in fact I’d be delighted to be proven wrong. But to do that, I’d like to see a journalist take the time to track him down, sight that document and something else and then we’ve got a story. Until then, it could well be a case of a young fella having a lend of us all, one hell of a solid trolling of the worldwide media.
Could it be that Bich was taking us all for a ride? That the most magical name on the internet was fake?
Unfortunately so.
A few hours ago, he took to Facebook to admit that the whole thing was a hoax.
What started as a joke between friends, became a prank that made a fool out of the media and brought out the best in the people who reached out to me. It didn’t bring out the anger and darkness that we often see on the internet, but it brought a levity and humanity in a time we need it most.
It goes to show that an average joe like myself can con the the biggest news sources with ease.
He signed the status “Joe Carr” although it’s unclear whether that is his name either. (Some have posited that it’s a play on ‘joker’.)
The lesson here? Don’t trust everything you see on Facebook.
