Just to clear some things up. He is a close friend. I totally believe him that he screwed up. He definitely sent the coins to the scammer address listed above, shown in the txid that I posted. As many have stated above, I do believe his clipboard was hijacked, likely waiting for a bitcoin address, and then inserting the known scammer's address, as stated by bitcoinwhoswho. He certainly was not trying to scam me, to get away from paying, as he already agreed to pay me.
 Just to clear some things up. He is a close friend. I totally believe him that he screwed up. He definitely sent the coins to the scammer address listed above, shown in the txid that I posted. As many have stated above, I do believe his clipboard was hijacked, likely waiting for a bitcoin address, and then inserting the known scammer's address, as stated by bitcoinwhoswho. He certainly was not trying to scam me, to get away from paying, as he already agreed to pay me.

Yes, indeed, he was using a hot wallet on his computer to send the funds, I believe it was web based. Honestly, I was unaware of his system, and I was shocked to hear that he was using blockchain wallet on his computer.

We are going to create a new wallet on hardware device, to create an address, then we will import his current wallet to the hardware device, and send those coins to the newly created wallet......  So we are taking precautions. I told him he needs to secure his mnemonic phrase immediately, then after the coins have been secured, wipe and re-install his operating system.

 Just to clear some things up. He is a close friend. I totally believe him that he screwed up. He definitely sent the coins to the scammer address listed above, shown in the txid that I posted. As many have stated above, I do believe his clipboard was hijacked, likely waiting for a bitcoin address, and then inserting the known scammer's address, as stated by bitcoinwhoswho. He certainly was not trying to scam me, to get away from paying, as he already agreed to pay me.

Yes, indeed, he was using a hot wallet on his computer to send the funds, I believe it was web based. Honestly, I was unaware of his system, and I was shocked to hear that he was using blockchain wallet on his computer.

We are going to create a new wallet on hardware device, to create an address, then we will import his current wallet to the hardware device, and send those coins to the newly created wallet......  So we are taking precautions. I told him he needs to secure his mnemonic phrase immediately, then after the coins have been secured, wipe and re-install his operating system.