From my experience, when you do a WU transfer you also need to put in the receivers location (and city sometimes). And if when they go to pick it up, that destination does not match, they won't be allowed to pick it up.
So from that, your friend (the sender) should already know where the receiver is because he would have needed to at least give him the correct country. So I am assuming that the guy who got the money is in the US, as surely your friend would not be dumber and send WU payment to someone over seas.
We have now established (assuming your friend is all there) that the receiver is in the US.
Did he check if the payment was actually picked up? If it was not picked up, you can call WU or go and pick up the payment yourself (you will need ID to show that you are the sender). He will lose out on the sending fee, but he will get the $1000 back. If the payment has been picked up, then it is too late to get the money back that way.
Also, when you send with WU - you have his full name (he needs photo ID to pick up the payment). With that, can't you lodge a police report and print all your evidence and receipts etc to show that you were paying for an apartment, but then never got anything. If you actually have a REAL NAME of the person + evidence, police might be more inclined to help as you actually have a lead, otherwise I doubt they'll care.
Hope your friend learns how to think next time, no offense.
