By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-01 22:02:04 | Updated at 2026-08-02 15:30:59
17 hours ago
It's no secret that dating in New York City often requires navigating a minefield of awkward first dates, drunken hookups and toxic situationships.
But for Murray Hill Guy, the anonymous 'rage bait' account that has gone viral on X for his controversial relationship advice and right-leaning political takes, sharing screenshots of his failed interactions with women on the dating app Hinge has earned him upwards of $10,000 a month on the platform.
In the last two years, Murray Hill Guy, who has 72,000 followers on X, has become the ire of many single, liberal women on the platform thanks to his musings on high 'body counts' and his 'field research' impersonating women on Hinge, in turn exposing to his fans the 'broken system' of dating for men in New York.
When the Daily Mail initially reached out to Murray Hill Guy for an interview, the poster behind the account emphasized that he did not want his real identity to be named in the article, as to keep his online persona separate from his personal life.
Nevertheless, the identity of Murray Hill Guy has been perhaps one of the internet's most pressing questions over the last two years, as Reddit threads and viral X posts have frequently suggested that New Jersey native Robert Lefkowitz, 31, is the man behind the account.
What's more, a photo of Murray Hill Guy's face that was posted to the anonymous account in July 2025 before it was deleted – and later obtained by the Daily Mail – appeared to match photos from Lefkowitz's public social media pages.
And an ongoing defamation lawsuit initially filed publicly in December 2025 by an ex-friend of Murray Hill Guy cited Lefkowitz as the alleged 'operator' of the account.
Now, speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, sources have shed insight into Murray Hill Guy's rise to fame, suggesting that his controversial posts are not far off from the Lefkowitz they know.
The X/Twitter account Murray Hill Guy (seen) is a popular 'rage bait' account known for its controversial relationship advice and right-leaning political takes
Murray Hill Guy, whose bio reads, 'Murray Chill, NYC. 5 Feet, 6 Figures, 7 Inches. Making NYC great again,' made his first appearance on X in June 2024.
For those who are unaware, the account's moniker takes inspiration from the Manhattan neighborhood of the same name. Murray Hill, located on the east side of midtown Manhattan, has gained somewhat of a negative reputation in recent years for its growing population of college graduates and fratty 'finance bros' clad in Patagonia vests and backwards caps.
Essentially, these Murray Hill residents have become walking 'red flags' for women in the dating scene and the subject of many viral memes, making it the perfect backdrop for a satirical, anonymous account.
It also helps that Lefkowitz has lived in the neighborhood of Murray Hill since at least 2023, according to public records. He told listeners on the inaugural episode of the '567 with Murray Hill Guy' podcast that he's lived in New York City for nearly six years.
Lefkowitz's move to the Big Apple is not surprising, considering he grew up in an affluent suburban New Jersey town less than 25 miles outside of Manhattan.
He graduated from Livingston High School in 2013 and went on to attend Penn State University until 2017, according to his public LinkedIn profile. Although the Murray Hill Guy account parodies 'finance bros' in industries like banking and investing, Lefkowitz himself is a certified personal trainer who has worked a number of jobs in operations and supply chain management.
Lefkowitz has also suffered five concussions over several years, he previously shared in a video for the Concussion & CTE Foundation, noting that his concussions were mainly caused by playing basketball.
A source who spoke to the Daily Mail, but asked to be kept anonymous, described their experience growing up with Lefkowitz, claiming he had been a 'troll' even before the Murray Hill Guy account began.
'We were younger, so perhaps he wasn't as degrading [as Murray Hill Guy], but he was always a troll,' said the source, who worked as a camp counselor with Lefkowitz at Willow Lake Day Camp in New Jersey when they were teens but admittedly has not kept up a friendship.
Being a 'troll' on the internet – a person who intentionally posts offensive or controversial messages to generate clicks, likes and discussion – has been proven to be one of the most foolproof ways to go viral online.
These days, however, it seems that internet trolls have pivoted away from the 'doge' memes and 'Grumpy cats' of ancient times to more provocative posts known as 'rage bait' – content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage in exchange for engagement.
In September 2025, Murray Hill Guy posted on X: 'The fact that women think they can spend all their good years whoring about & can come back to you in the sunset of their life with their fupa, mom jeans, & cellulite is really just crazy to me.'
He wrote in June this year: 'Girls in NYC will really be like "all men are terrible" while having a body count of 100+'.
The following month, Murray Hill Guy wrote: 'Hoeflation is crazy in 2026. Even fat chicks want & are expecting to be seduced and taken out.'
And in May 2025, he posted: 'You’re not a real man if you don't chase perfectly of age teenage baddies… summer is here folks.'
Pictured above: The anonymous poster behind Murray Hill Guy shared a photo of himself and an unknown woman working out in the gym to the Murray Hill Guy account, hiding his identity with an emoji over his face
By comparing the image posted by Murray Hill Guy to a gym photo posted by Lefkowitz on his public Instagram page (seen), the Daily Mail was able to decipher his identity
It was June last year when Murray Hill Guy's niche 'finance bro' dating content broke into the mainstream, when he posted a screenshot of his text message interaction with a contact named 'Julia - Laila'.
According to the post, which has 11.7m views on X, Murray Hill Guy texted Julia asking whether they were still on for their date later that evening.
She replied over text: 'Hey! Yes that still works! I did just want to ask one thing to make sure we are on the same page and not waste time! Did you vote for Zohran [Mamdani] for mayor? I'm really excited he won.'
In response, Murray Hill Guy texted Julia a screenshot of their reservation for two at Little Rebel bar in the East Village, which he had canceled.
He captioned the post, 'Dating in NYC summed up wtf'.
The viral post garnered Murray Hill Guy coverage in the New York Post, a TV segment on Fox & Friends, and an appearance on the Mic'd and Medicated podcast. For the latter, he was shown on camera, but attempted to go incognito with a pair of sunglasses.
Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest questions that both fans and critics of Murray Hill Guy had was whether his text message interaction with Julia was actually real. In the comments section, Murray Hill Guy assured his followers that he 'can't make this stuff up,' and said in a follow-up post that Julia had sent him a cease and desist letter from an unnamed lawyer urging him to delete his posts.
But according to Andrew Watson, Murray Hill Guy's former friend, who is known as Degen CPA on X, the dating app saga was hard for him to believe.
Pictured above: Murray Hill Guy went viral in June 2025 when he shared a screenshot of his alleged conversation with a woman named Julia
'That big story where he canceled on a girl named Julia, that was completely made up,' Watson claimed to the Daily Mail.
'All of his content is just completely made-up, fabricated stories or they're from his friends,' he said.
Watson's claims about Murray Hill Guy come amid a defamation and harassment lawsuit filed in New York County Supreme Court in December 2025.
In the filing, Lefkowitz's ex-friend Eric Spector accused him of 'falsely publicizing' Spector as the 'administrator and content creator of the Murray Hill Guy account,' which Spector claims led him to be fired from his job.
Attorneys for Lefkowitz have repeatedly denied Spector's claims in the lawsuit, stating in a May 2026 motion to dismiss that Spector's allegations are not sufficient enough to prove Lefkowitz defamed him.
Still, the alleged text messages between Lefkowitz and Spector, which were submitted as evidence to the court, gave an inside look into the creative process behind Murray Hill Guy.
In one alleged exchange between the parties, Lefkowitz appeared to ask Spector for his help after coming up with an idea for a 'good troll' to post, which Lefkowitz said was 'guaranteed' 100,000 impressions on X.
The alleged message from Lefkowitz then read, 'Ok… text me the following. Copy and paste this.'
That was followed by another message that appeared to be sent by Lefkowitz, which read, 'Hey Robby! I hope this isn't weird, but we matched on hinge last week, and you may not have saw my message,' the following text read, according to the filing. 'I actually saw we actually have a mutual friend (Jess) and she gave me your number! Would love to grab a drink with you soon!'
As Murray Hill Guy's fame took off online, efforts to unmask the anonymous poster behind the account unsurprisingly did too.
In a post shared to the popular Reddit forum r/NYCinfluencersnark last October, one user asked the subreddit's 412,000 weekly visitors whether anyone knew the identity of Murray Hill Guy.
Several commenters chimed in, such as one user who claimed their boyfriend attended Livingston High School with him, and another who claimed his height is actually 5'4.
Others posted photos of Lefkowitz taken from his public social media accounts, such as his LinkedIn, and another photo of Lefkowitz running the New York City Half-Marathon in March 2024. These photos were subsequently removed from the Reddit thread.
Murray Hill Guy hasn't shied away from acknowledging his 'short king' status, often joking on X that he is 'never beating the short allegations'.
In one response from January 2025, he told a commenter that his height was 5'6, though he subsequently said in a post from July 2026 that he was 5'4.
Apart from his height, however, Murray Hill Guy has made a concerted effort to avoid being unmasked. On X, his profile picture features a man with a slicked-back bun, wearing sunglasses and a black turtleneck.
Meanwhile, the Instagram account for Murray Hill Guy simply contains screenshots of his posts on X, and his TikTok consists of videos filmed with his forward-facing phone camera.
Still, a few posts have slipped through the cracks.
During his appearance on the Mic'd and Medicated podcast last October, Murray Hill Guy showed himself on camera alongside co-hosts Eva Heyman and Caroline Leventhal.
He did little to disguise himself, simply wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, though he still bore a striking resemblance to the fitness trainer frequently posted on Lefkowitz's personal Instagram page.
Murray Hill Guy appeared on the Mic'd and Medicated podcast in October 2025, in which he used a thinly veiled disguise of dark sunglasses making little effort to hide his identity (seen)
The screenshot, obtained by the Daily Mail, shows a July 2025 post shared by Murray Hill Guy that appeared to reveal Lefkowitz's face (left) as the operator behind the account
What's more, a selfie obtained by the Daily Mail showed Lefkowitz posing alongside his friends from a running club, along with the caption, 'First run club a success minus 2 fallen soldiers who had to back out… see you next time.'
The post, which a source said was shared to the Murray Hill Guy X account around July 2025, has since been deleted from the platform.
Murray Hill Guy's anonymity has been a major contributing factor to the account's overall success. However, it appears the internet's attempts to reveal the 'rage bait' poster's identity have come quite easily, especially with such a large digital footprint at their disposal.
In fact, it took the Daily Mail an estimated 15 minutes to discover posts on Reddit and X that had linked Lefkowitz to the account, not to mention the active, publicly filed lawsuit over Murray Hill Guy in which Lefkowitz is named as a defendant.
A preliminary conference request was filed by Spector's attorney on July 15, though no further dates have been set.
With such a frequent stream of viral dating content, it would be easy to assume that Murray Hill Guy's posts were inspired by his own experience with dating and relationships.
The childhood friend told the Daily Mail that Lefkowitz was 'rejected' by girls in the past due to his height, something that Murray Hill Guy has lamented about online too.
But it seems that problem is far behind him now, as he revealed his engagement to his girlfriend on July 25, covering both their faces with an emoji in the post.
If fans are concerned that Murray Hill Guy's recent engagement will suddenly put a stop to all his dating content, they shouldn't be worried just yet.
Murray Hill Guy recently launched his own dating service, called Dating by Murray Hill Guy, to help 'guys win on dating apps' by redesigning their dating app profiles and extending his expertise in the world of New York City singledom.
