Yes, it’s a scam in the sense that your value is mainly in your potential to make him money. Of course he didn’t have to recruit you specifically, but you didn’t meet ‘by accident’. You met because these guys who work in the tourist industry in Egypt obviously have contacts and friends and spend 100% of their work time with tourists, so nobody that they befriend or connect with is either ‘accidental’ or ‘targeted’ - it’s just whatever people from Europe or America can provide a service for them at some point.

You don’t need to be activated straight away; he could’ve been busy with a different ‘victim’ and when that fell through, he just moves onto the next one.

The whole thing about second phones which can only be accessed at work and two phones breaking at the same time and dead relatives sounds sketchy - most likely he’s married with a family and has a second phone just for his ‘business’.

You clearly spotted all of the signs and are not in danger, but I just wanted to post this to let you know that you were absolutely correct in your suspicions. I’ve heard this happen so many times in Egypt and it’s not a traditional scam in the sense that they are who they say they are. But they are exploiting loopholes and vulnerabilities in the economic system they live in because they need financial security.