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Her name may be Hedges-Stocks — but don’t count on her for investment advice.

A London writer with the deceptive surname found herself in the social-media spotlight at the height of the GameStop mania last week — when her Twitter blew up with request after request for stock tips.

“THIS IS NOT A FINANCE ACCOUNT,” Zoah Hedges-Stocks wrote last Friday in a tweet that’s now pinned to the top of her account. “I DO NOT HAVE ANY TRADING ADVICE. HEDGES-STOCKS IS MY SURNAME.”

The 31-year-old former journalist-turned-fiction writer told The Post that for years her last name has earned her a steady stream of Twitter followers from gullible finance-related accounts.

“Whilst I was teased at school for my unusual first name, no one really paid much attention to my last name until I joined Twitter in 2009,” Hedges-Stocks wrote in an email Tuesday.

“I noticed that I had a lot of accounts following me that had ‘Penny Stocks’ or ‘Forex’ or similar in the name.”

But as the Reddit-fueled GameStop stock sagaexploded, so did the messages in Hedges-Stocks’ inbox.


  London-based writer, Zoah Hedges-Stocks, 31, was barraged with Twitter messages last week. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks London-based writer, Zoah Hedges-Stocks, 31, was barraged with Twitter messages last week. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks

“hi just curious if you have an opinion on the Naked Brand?” one amateur tweeted on Friday. “Or if you’ve ever heard of them? The stock is up 250% just in today. Thanks hope to get some feedback.”

Hedges-Stocks replied, “I am not a stock market account.”

Another account urged Hedges-Stocks to rally behind a cryptocurrency.

“Join the movement now,” the tweet said.


  A screen shot of a Twitter interaction on Hedges-Stocks’ account. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks A screen shot of a Twitter interaction on Hedges-Stocks’ account. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks

Hedges-Stocks’ roughly 4,700 followers ballooned to more than 12,300 overnight thanks, in part, to her matter-of-fact tweet, which has since racked up more than 54,000 retweets and 705,000 likes.

And strangers are still hitting her up for investment advice.

Zoah Hedges-Stocks’ last name created with a frenzy on Twitter amid the GameStop stock chaos. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks

“Most of them are obviously joking, but I have had quite a few tweets and DMs from people who sincerely think I know about the stock market, and who have seemed disappointed or annoyed when I explain that I am a broke Millennial on disability benefits,” Hedges-Stocks said.

Her viral post has even yielded marriage proposals.

“There have also been some fun questions about what sort of hedges people should buy for their gardens,” she added.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Hedges-Stocks is, in fact, her real surname, as online records of UK birth and voting registries confirmed.

“On Twitter, people have asked if I come from a long line of traders,” Hedges-Stocks said. “The truth is even stranger, if less punny: both the Hedges and the Stocks run travelling funfairs. On the Stocks side, we have traced our involvement in showbusiness back at least 200 years.”

Stocks comes from Zoah’s mother’s side, while her father’s family are Hedges. And she says her great aunt was a Hedges, too, until she married a Bond — a match seemingly made in stock-market heaven.

“So I have a whole family of cousins with another financial-themed name, too,” said Hedges-Stocks, whose byline has appeared in UK publications including The Telegraph, The Times and The Independent.


  A screen grabs taken from Zoah Hedges-Stocks’ twitter account. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks A screen grabs taken from Zoah Hedges-Stocks’ twitter account. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks

While going viral hasn’t led her to consider dabbling in the stock market, she did invest in some cryptocurrency and has an interest in bargain hunting.

“I love a thrift shop and I don’t believe in fast fashion,” she said. “I’m much more of a coupon queen than the she-wolf of Wall Street!”

Out of all of this, Hedges-Stocks said the “weirdest” thing to happen is her “non-pornographic” OnlyFans account — where she posts about British wildlife — blowing up from 10 to more than 700 subscribers.

And in true Twitter form, Hedges-Stocks’ surname spectacle has also spawned a meme of its own.

Hedges-Stocks said her brief brush with internet stardom provided much-needed levity during the COVID-19 crisis.


  Zoah Hedges-Stocks explaining that she is not a stock trader, despite how her last name sounds. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks Zoah Hedges-Stocks explaining that she is not a stock trader, despite how her last name sounds. Courtesy of Zoah Hedges-Stocks

“I suffer with depression, and like most people, I am starting to find lockdown quite hard,” she said. “Going viral has provided a fun distraction over the last few days and helped to take my mind off of things. To everyone who has retweeted me: thank you for the laughs!”

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