Fans of Hailey Welch, also known as “Hawk Tuah girl” lost their life savings on her latest attempt to cash in on her 15 minutes of fame.
Hailey launched her Hawk Tuah ($HAWK) meme coin on the Solana blockchain on Wednesday. Within 24 hours of the launch on Dec. 4, the Hawk Tuah coin crashed 94% from a value of about $500 million to around $29 million.
The Hawk Tuah Girl Launched a Meme Coin, Everybody Lost Their Money, People Want Her Thrown in Jail pic.twitter.com/tOg1IeZmaV
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 5, 2024
Hailey’s fans are outraged and they’re demanding refunds. They note that Hailey promised Fortune magazine that her coin launch “is not a cash grab” or a rug pull.
A “rug pull” is a crypto scam where the memecoin developer pulls the rug out from under investors by running off with all their funds.
That’s what Haailey’s fans say she did to them. One fan said she lost $35,000 of her savings in the scam. She is threatening a lawsuit if her money isn’t refunded.
“Hi @HaileyWelchX, my $35,000 that I purchased of $Hawk is now $2,000,” the fan wrote on Bluesky. “I purchased your $Hawk that you were so excited about with my life savings and my children’s college education fund as well. You didn’t mention that you were going to buy 97% of the supply and sell it almost immediately to make a large profit.”
Another investor lost over $1.3 million buying the Hawk Tuah coin. Others took to social media to report they lost their life savings as well.
A law firm urged investors who lost money to call his office.
Hailey went viral in June when YouTube duo “Tim & Dee TV” approached her outside a bar and asked, “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?”
Hailey I’m not even kidding when I say this, you are most likely going to prison
— Sizeab1e (@sizeab1e) December 4, 2024
Hailey going to jail for crypto scamming. Sad to see
— Sean Harris? (@BigSeanHarris) December 5, 2024