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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.

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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."

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