FORGET smiling or twirling your hair to get the boys' attention.

Some Australian girls think it's cooler to paint their handphone numbers onto their skin using blue-coloured sunblock while they lounge at the beach.

The impression of their numbers are left on their skin.

This stunt has been seen on at least two Sydney beaches, reported The Daily Mail.

The mostly 14 to 15 year olds said they had travelled from Sydney's inner suburbs to Cronulla Beach, south of the city, and to Manly Beach in the north to 'meet boys' .

They are hoping that this unusual tactic would encourage a few phone calls.

One girl, Samantha, 15, told the area's local newspaper, The Manly Daily: 'We come for both the beaches and the boys, but I'm taken, so it's all good.

'I got a message and it said, 'Your friends are hot - but what about me?'.

Her friend, who was only identified as Lizzy, also 15, admitted that their antics had attracted the wrong kind of attention.

Older men had been among some of the fastest to respond.

She said: 'An old guy tried to talk to me.

' He was trying to take pictures of us.'

Though the teenagers may think their stunts are all in the name of girlish fun, authorities are worried.

Child protection officers said they fear for the girls' safety as their acts would attract unsavoury attention and have warned other youngsters not to copy the stunt.

This article was first published in The New Paper on October 18, 2008.