Man scams PR firms for major freebies

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NEW YORK, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A New York City man lived the high life for five days with freebies after hoodwinking public relations firms into believing he was a magazine publisher.

Mac Montandon, 34, told the New York Post he had business cards printed up for ridiculous, fictional magazines, and then set about contacting PR firms.

In just days, he filled his calendar with free breakfasts, lunches, dinners, lodging, theater tickets, and an invitation to a costume party thrown by the Hearst family in an Upper East Side mansion, where he mingled with Ivana Trump.

"I didn't do it to be malicious, it was more of a curiosity -- just how far could I push it?" Montandon said. "I'm fairly certain I could have acquired a Smith & Wesson pistol, a karaoke machine, hockey equipment, Trojan condoms, a night at a sleep-therapy lab, Canadian bird-flu vaccine, and nights at the Hilton and Trump International Hotel."