Is this a Scam OR a Social Experiment by a Psych Student?

I was just minding my own business this afternoon, walking along the road between CBAA and Oval as I waited for a passing tricycle (in vain) when I happened to look over my shoulder and saw a boy wearing a yellow shirt. *shrugs* No big deal. I continued walking until I reached the corner of CAS and CEN so I just decided to turn left and proceed to the second gate instead of waiting for a trike to take me to the main gate. When I turned that corner, I saw the yellow-shirt boy (who's a bit far from me, afaik) broke into a run. Hmm, must be trying to catch up to someone/something. When I was almost in front of the IGS office though, I heard someone calling my attention and when I looked behind, it was that boy.

He looked like he must be in junior/senior high and kind of lost so I thought he'd ask for directions. However, the first question he asked me was: 

"May kasama po ba kayo?"  (Uh, that was a totally strange ice-breaking question, especially as he can see that I was by myself. Oh well, I got a full load of patience today so I humored him.)

ME: "Wala, bakit?"

"Dito po ba kayo nag-aaral?" (Again, with the weird question.)

ME: "Oo, dati. Incoming student ka ba?"

He was quite hesitant in answering and just gave a noncommital nod.

Up to this point I was still waiting for him to ask for directions to somewhere but instead he put on this problematic/shy/paawa expression and said he's going to tell me something. I immediately thought maybe he has a problem he wanted to share so I gave him the go-ahead and then braced myself for a lot of drama and the eventual counseling. 

"Pwede po bang makahiram ng pera, pang-pasahe lang po pauwi."

ME: "San ka ba uuwi?"

"Sa Cabanatuan po."

ME: "Anu nangyari sau?" (Well, he doesn't have any bag or anything with him and it struck me as a strange thing so I casually asked him what happened to him. *shrugs* )

"E naubos ko po kasi ung pera ko."

ME: (Dude, can you be more vague? Let's try another question...) "Asan yung bag mo?"

"Nasa dorm po." (Oookay...)

ME: "Hindi mo ba muna kukunin ung gamit mo sa dorm?" (You know, because you're gonna go home right?)

 

"Hindi po, kukuha lang po ako ng damit sa bahay namin; hindi rin po ako magtatagal."

All the while we were talking, I just continued walking towards the second gate so I naturally thought he's going to ride the jeepney with me -- because he's walking beside me, and he needs to go to Cabanatuan right? So my plan was to just pay for his fare once we're in the jeepney. Easy. In the meantime, I want to know what is up with him so I was going to continue asking him questions when he suddenly said "Sige po" and bade me goodbye.  

ME: Huh? 

"May pupuntahan lang po ako dito" (pointing to CAS). 

Oh. Okay, that was weird. I seriously thought that was the end of it -- that some kid just misunderstood me and took my numerous questions as a sign of rejection -- so I shrugged it off and credited it as yet another strange experience with strangers. Believe me, I've had lots of weird encounters with strangers. (There was even a time when two guys on a motorcycle stopped by the sidewalk and insisted I watch their magic trick... but that's a different story.)

Anyway...

Imagine my surprise then when a friend shared something eerily similar over dinner. He was just at the part where "a kid wearing a yellow shirt suddenly called his attention earlier today as he was around the Old Market area" when I blurted out, "Parang kilala ko yang sinsabi mo!"

And as he went on with his story, it became clear: Yep, we had a similar encounter. Needless to say, he was also surprised. Apparently, he was approached by the kid using the same MO, only this time, my friend said he gave him a hundred bucks for his fare because he's genuinely concerned for him.

But that's not the end of it -- turns out, another of our friends who was listening was also approached by the kid A FEW DAYS AGO. Well, after the standard questions, this other friend finally gave the kid all the change he has with him. Seems pretty obvious that this yellow-shirt kid has been busy, no?

I really hope we're just jumping to conclusions here but I just can't help but think what a "coincidence" it is that the same person (worse, they could be different kids, just with the same MO) approached us within a span of several days.

OR, for all we know, the whole thing was being recorded and we just became part of a social experiment by a Psych student.  Great  -_-    (Perhaps next time I'd pretend to be a foreign student to make it more interesting for them.)