I’m pretty sure my mother is being scammed…

Hi all. My mom is in her late 60s, married (I had thought happily) for many years to my stepfather, who is well-off financially, and treats her very kindly. They split their time between my home city, and out of state. Currently, they reside out of state.

About six months ago, my mother began acting oddly. Then last month, she texted me asking to borrow $700, and to not tell my husband or stepdad. My mother has access to money, so this request did not make sense. I confronted her about why she’d been acting strange, and she came clean about essentially an emotional “affair” she’d been having with “a pilot from the UK.” The second I saw the “pic” of him that she sent me, I knew it was a scam. I sent her information about those types of scams, and told her to cut off and block the person she had been corresponding with. She told me she did. However, I know my mother…and she was much too quick to oblige, especially since she’d been gushing “I know about all those scams, I’ve even confronted him about it…everyone tells me not to trust him, but there’s just something about him I can’t get off my mind.” I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, so I believed her when she told she’d stopped speaking with him. This was about 3-4 weeks ago.

Today, I got a text from her asking to borrow $200. She told me to put it on an Apple card, scratch off the code and take a pic of it. I know this is scammer 101. I questioned her gently on it, and she told me it was for a friend of hers who needed it. I asked if the friend has Venmo or Paypal, so I can send the $ directly. She said “no, that’s why she’s asking for an Apple card/wanting to do it this way.”

My mother is definitely asking for $ to give to a scammer, right? It’s upsetting because I want to believe that my mother wouldn’t lie to me like that. But it just makes no logical sense. My mom has never in her life asked me to borrow money, so thar a friend could borrow money. She hasn’t even asked me to borrow money. Ever. She’s very adamant that it be an Apple card, another red flag IMO. Also told me not to tell anyone. I’m tempted to clue my stepdad in vaguely, without directly implicating her. I don’t know what to do here. I need to know that I’m not just being pessimistic assuming that the Apple card is for “a friend in their condo complex.” Any advice or input appreciated.