Mother of 4 taken in by scam

A mother of four children, all under 8 years of age was recently scammed by someone that approached her outside the school as she was waiting to collect her children.  They told her they could organise a £1500 loan and for that she would need to pay them £350 fee.  She gave them her details, the ‘loan’ was organised and paid into her bank account, and she gave him the £350 fee.  When she went to draw out her child tax credits they weren’t in the bank as expected, so she contacted the Tax Credits department only to be told her claim had been closed down as she was now claiming Universal Credit and the payments would be included with that.  She explained she hadn’t submitted a claim for Universal Credit only to discover that a claim had been made in her name, presumably by the person that approached her outside the school and they had requested an advanced payment on the UC, which she would have to repay at a fixed amount each month.  One of her sons has had a kidney transplant and needs special pads and a specific diet, as well as regular trips to hospital which she currently cannot afford.  We agreed to send the family £200 to help them until the next benefits payment would be paid to her.