Deceptive Texting Company to Pay Penalty

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says a California company that sent 150,000 deceptive text messages to cell phones in New York has agreed to stop the texting and pay a $500,000 penalty.

He says Game Theory LLC of San Jose sent messages mentioning things like a "secret crush," diet tips and the phrase "Someone thinks you're hot!" to trick recipients into unwittingly signing up for $9.99-a-month textmessaging services from May 23, 2011 to July 5, 2011.

Schneiderman says Game Theory agreed to leave the text messaging business and pay the penalty under the terms of a settlement after an investigation by the state.

He says Game Theory was recently acquired by another business. A telephone number for the company could not be found Sunday.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press