nailed itIt sounds like one of those fake charity scams where someone pays money to help out someone who is dying of cancer when they aren’t reallly sick.
The OP paid a higher price for the car than he otherwise would have based on the false belief that he was helping out someone in need. The seller was sorta in need but not to the degree that was being portrayed by her friend.
I would thus agree that the buyer got scammed here. It wasn’t a complete scam but the direness of the seller’s circumstances was certainly exaggerated.
I think the OP should tell his friend how he feels about what happened and, based on the friend’s response, decide whether or not to dump him as a friend.