He made a friend online and called because of an emergency.

The usual. They tell you a fantasy story. I played along, and after 2 days they told me they had a catastrophic story and asked me to lend them $300 with any interest I wanted to add. I said I couldn't and apologized. I kindly told them to try to resolve it in their city, and they blocked me. I'm reporting this in case it happens to someone else.