Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful ...

... hate me because I conned your paper into running a huge fake Gucci ad

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updated 10:28 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2007

ZURICH, Switzerland - Some people will do anything to get into the papers.

But few have the audacity of a man in Switzerland, who conned one of the country's biggest media companies into publishing a two-page advertisement he created of himself posing semi-naked beside a bottle of Gucci perfume.

The man, who claimed to represent the Italian fashion giant, called up the Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung last week to book the expensive color spread in Sunday's edition, a spokesman for the paper said.

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Christoph Zimmer told The Associated Press on Tuesday the man asked for the $49,100 bill to be sent to Gucci.

"We've spoken to Gucci and apologized for the mistake," Zimmer said. "We're going to try and get the money back from this guy, but we don't rate our chances."

The Milan-based Gucci, owned by luxury goods group PPR SA, could not be reached for comment.

Zimmer said the paper fell for the scam because the call arrived too late for the advertising department to check whether it was genuine.

It was not the first time the mysterious model — a dark, handsome man who appears to be in his late 20s — tried to sneak into the limelight.

According to the Zurich-based daily Blick, the man also attempted to book concert venues by passing himself off as Puerto Rican pop singer Chayanne.

The man is under investigation for alleged fraud in relation to other cases, said Meinrad Stoecklin, a spokesman for police in Basel. Police refused to identify him under strict Swiss privacy laws.