Finally, the "mystery" and "controversy" revolving around the name "Phuc Dat Bich" is now resolved after the man's real identity was revealed.
The Australian man of Vietnamese descent admitted on Facebook that his story, which gained media attention worldwide, was actually a hoax.
It turns out that Phuc Dat Bich's real name is Thien Nguyen, which was revealed to Mashable by the man's former school friend. The schoolmate supported his claim with a school photo, adding that they both attended the Deer Park Secondary College.
The photo showed Nguyen wearing what looked like a school uniform with his name printed outside the frame.
With this revelation, it is therefore safe to assume that the photo of Nguyen's alleged passport, which bore the name Phuc Dat Bich and was posted to prove his identity, must have been photoshopped.
In that post, 23-year old Nguyen 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. I've been accused of using a false and misleading name of which I find very offensive. Is it because I'm Asian? Is It? Having my fb shut down multiple times and forced to change my name to my real name, so just to put it out there. My name."
This case, however, is not the first time that a person's account has been shut down by the social network, which has been strongly encouraging users to use their real names oin Facebook. This "real name" policy somehow gained a disapproving nod from certain individuals such as drag queens, but also from people who were actually having trouble getting their real name accepted on the network, such as the FB user named Isis Anchalee.
Anchalee's account was reportedly deactivated several times by the social network, which mistook it as being related to the terrorist group. Eventually, she was able to reactivate the "controversial" account after it was handled by a Facebook researcher.
After being flooded with questions from journalists, "Mr. Bich" finally decided to face the story that he made up and explained the intention behind everything.
According to Nguyen, pretending to be Phuc Dat Bich, which is said to be pronounced like "Phoop Dook Bic," successfully brought awareness to those who feel challenged because of their culturally specific names.
"I've never believed it's necessary for it to be mandatory to have your entire name to be published on social media," said Nguyen. "People should be free to use any name they desire. Facebook needs to understand that it is utterly impossible to legitimize a place where there will always be pranksters and tricksters."
