I have been receiving IM from someone requesting i send him money to return home from africa and think scam in

involved how do i report or find out if this is the truth and help is really needed he states he is in Africa and needs airfare home I got an address in TN where he supposedly lives and a phone number but do not know if anything is true and need to know how to report this if it is a scam and how to find out if it is true