Hoax – ‘Your Cell Phone Has a Name’

Outline

Message circulating on Facebook claims that entering the last three digits of your cell phone number into a Facebook comment will reveal the “name” of your cell phone.  

Brief Analysis

Entering the last three digits of your phone number in the way described  will  indeed reveal a name. However, it is  not  the name of your phone. Every Facebook profile has a unique identification number. Entering the number and code in the way described in the message displays the name of the Facebook user with that identification number. Thus, the message is just a prank, albeit a rather interesting one.

Example

Detailed Analysis

According to this message, which has circulated via Facebook in various forms for more than a year, you can find out the “name” of your cell phone by entering the last three digits of its number – configured in a special way – into a Facebook comment box and hitting the “enter” button.

In fact, entering a three digit number formatted in the way described does indeed display a name. However, the name revealed is not the name of your cell phone as claimed in the message, but rather the name of a particular Facebook user.  

 Here are the facts:

• Each and every Facebook Profile has a unique Identification Number associated with it.
• @[string_of_digits:0]  is a shortcode that, when entered into a Facebook comment box, displays the name of the user associated with that ID number.
• The code has no connection whatsoever to your cell phone number.
• The number entered does not have to be only three digits, and in fact, most Facebook ID’s will be considerably longer.
• These short (three digits) profile numbers suggest that they belong to some of Facebook’s earliest users.

Thus, the message is just an interesting and harmless prank.

A screenshot of the “trick” in action:

Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/hoax-your-cell-phone-has-a-name/