So, there was this business that wrote off a whole bunch of transactions that should have been paid for, but weren't. A pretty large amount... Then, the next day, one of their employees is asked to fax over a large list of.... "items"... and their numbers, etc. (things associated with them that say or prove that that business had said... "items") in order to get paid for 'em. The very things they just recently wrote off.
Forgive me if I'm sounding vague here. But doesn't that sound like fraud to you?
The order of the transactions is important. They weren't paid for when they were written off so it's not fraud. That is of course assuming your "friend" works for an honest company that will then reclaim the income for those transactions.