New Yorkers don’t give wrong directions purposely but they do it unintentionally all the time.
Just the other day I noticed two guys looking around mystified and it turned out they were looking for the Dublin House, which is on 79th Street, and they were on 96th. Someone no doubt confidently gave them the wrong information. Check smartphone. Back on the subway.
When I first got to NY I was trying to get to Brooklyn and somebody said take any of the West Side trains going downtown. Except the local, of course, but they didn’t say that. When the train started going back uptown, I figured I had done something wrong.
I just figured out what probably happened to the two guys looking for the Dublin House. They were on 72nd Street and somebody said take the subway one stop. But they took the express. Not that anyone cares, but it solves the mystery.