Yes, think it got hacked. Do not reply as until he fixes it the replies will got to a spammer. Then you are on a spam list.

Quite a few got the same email, so probably he got hacked and the spammer sent out a message to his entire address book and the list of emails that he has received.

Only thing different about this one from some others I have seen, is that he is not stranded in some Asian country without any money.