So sorry this happened to your mom! Wish there was something we could do to get it back and stop these guys!
My mom and dad got tons of junk mail (I counted 25 one day). They all had such sob stories! One had an arrow going through the US from Mexico to Canada which just happened to be close to their home. It said the US was going to build a super interstate there. The width of said interstate would be the length of 9 football fields.
My mom also got a call, which I answered, where the guy tried to sound like he worked for our government and was verifying SS numbers for some reason. I couldn't understand everything of what he was saying due to his accent. He insisted on speaking with my mom and I refused until I spoke with someone else to understand what exactly the call was about. Instead of getting someone else on the line he hung up.
We all need to be aware, check things out, and talk to other people instead of doing the "knee jerk" reaction.