Log onto your favorite social networking site, and you may have a message from a "secret admirer" waiting. But don't fall for it. The state attorney general says it's no love; it's a trick.

Attorney General Rob McKenna has slapped a Seattle-based company with $500,000 in penalties for a promotion called "MyLuvCrush."

The Attorney General's Office says thousands of computer users likely received messages claiming they had a secret admirer. Translation: they all got tricked.

When users click on the secret admirer message, they're taken to a page called "MyLuvCrush."

"MyLuvCrush is supposedly going to tell you who has a crush on you," said Paula Selis of the state Attorney General's Office.

At first the site might look like innocent, romantic fun. It asks for your gender, your astrological sign and your name. But it also asks for your personal cell phone number.

State investigators say that's where the problems start.

"And the reason you need to enter your cell phone number is so they can bill you for a text message service, where you get horoscope reports every week or so," Selig said.

That service will cost you $9.99 a month.

The MyLuvCrush promotion is the product of a local company called Tattoo Media, Inc., which is headquartered in a commercial-residential building near Pike Place Market.

The company will pay the state $500,000 in penalties and fees for alleged violations of the state Consumer Protection Act through misrepresentations and deception.

The state says Tattoo Media continued the deception even after agreeing to stop last November.

The attorney general has an additional warning: other companies are using similar come-ons to target users of social networking sites.

And in case you're wondering, investigators say the secret admirers never existed.

More information:

Attorney general dumps creator of Internet come-ons