“Lexxxus” announced last month that she’d be in Lewiston the following Wednesday and Thursday, and in Portland Thursday afternoon and Friday.

“Come see me and let’s have fun,” her ad says. The invitation is posted above a picture of a woman striking a pose in a sleeveless black dress with a pink bra poking out underneath.

Her fun rate: $175 an hour.

“Amber” in Auburn advertised a special sale price last Wednesday. Only $80 a half-hour.

A half-hour of what, exactly?

The world will never know. She took her ads down an hour after a reporter called to ask.

This week the popular sharing Web site Craigslist and attorneys general in Maine and 39 other states announced an agreement to start cracking down on prostitution in its “erotic services” ads. Posters will have to leave a valid phone number and credit card, the better for law enforcement to trace them if the erotic ads veer to the illegal.

What’s on the Maine Craigslist site now: A mix of the blatant (“Discreet and satisfaction guaranteed everytime!”), a bit of wink-and-nod (“Hey why don’t you give me a try?”) and some not-so-suave, like the 35-year-old male from Presque Isle who asks, “Need extra money for bills?” He’s looking for someone willing to take money for “fun” . . . but only a “non-pro.”

Jessica Maurer, assistant to Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe, said Rowe was part of a MySpace and Facebook agreement last year that helped protect young people using those online sites.

“This is just sort of the next step,” Maurer said. “The biggest part of the concern for Craigslist is erotic services ads have been used to list the sexual services of children. That is the worst of the worst in relation to the prostitution.”

She wasn’t aware of a specific case that brought Craigslist to Rowe’s attention.

The agreement was reached last week and announced Thursday.

“You see these ads, ‘Do you want to have sex with a 14-year-old?'” Maurer said. Absent a phone number or other paper trail, which hadn’t been required by Craigslist before, “you can’t find out who that kid is and who is doing that heinous act.”

Now, if an ad goes up and the credit card or phone number aren’t legit, the ad comes down, she said. She anticipated AGs would more actively monitor the site.

Friday morning, Craigslist’s “erotic services” category listed nine ads for Lewiston, 28 for Auburn, 186 in Augusta and 914 in Portland. Many were from repeat posters over the past two months.

“We do periodically run undercover details where we’ll search Craigslist” and arrange prostitution stings, Portland police Capt. Vern Malloch said. “I think what it shows is how great the demand must be for that service, because there are quite a few women offering it.”

He has noticed that ads have evolved, like the one posted by a 20-year-old Portland woman Friday that offered this disclaimer over a picture of a woman in a tiny thong:

“Money exchanged is intended for time/companionship services only. Anything else that may occur is a personal choice between two consenting adults of legal age.”

Ads didn’t use to contain language like that, Malloch said.

But does it work? Not really.

“That would be something a judge would have to decide. In my mind, it doesn’t change what the intent is,” he said.

An ad for Lewiston-Auburn by “Venus” promised “a very sweet, clean, polite female that loves to please.” A 21-year-old in Farmington offered his services as an escort. (“I can provide pictures.”) A 53-year-old Oxford man looked for a regular weekend tryst: “I can be very generous to the right situation and would like to start my interview process this weekend.”

Calls placed to “Jada,” a 21-year-old who’s in Portland for a week charging $200 an hour for “fantasy fulfillment,” and to “Nadia” in South Portland, offering “naughty specials” for $100 a half-hour, were not returned.

Lewiston Police Lt. Michael McGonagle said his officers regularly check Craigslist for local people trying to fence stolen property. They don’t make the same checks for prostitutes, he said.

“It’s just another venue these girls have to advertise their product. (The new agreement) is going to help control that,” he said. “I’m sure eventually they’ll find a way around this, too, but right now, this is definitely a good start.”