Swindled into Jailbreak and stuck in boot loop, please help!

A family member recently mailed me iphone 3G to use in China. Technically, ATT gives you an unlock code for free in this case, but the dear woman went to someone who convinced her I needed the phone unlocked and jailbroken, and charged her $50 to do both. (Which I'm sure made his day!)

Unaware, I plugged the phone into my computer, started the itunes update, and sent the phone into a restore mode boot loop. I've tried the "Exit Restore" settings on RecBoot and TinyUmbrella, neither of which worked. I've read I need to do a "DFU Restore," but have no idea what that means and don't want to ruin the phone, or lose the unlock.

There's nothing on it that needs to be saved or backed up. I just want a up-to-date, unlocked phone without jailbreak. (I don't need it, never did!) Could someone please advise me on the simplest, non-techie way to go about this...?


I'll be forever your in your debt!
Yours,
Stressed Out and Phoneless in China

Note: I'm sure no one wants to get their hands dirty with someone as clearly inexperienced as I am, but I think my phone is stuck in DFU recovery mode, and I need to use iRecovery. I have limited knowledge of POSIX commands, but if someone could give me a step by step to help me through iRecovery on my Apple, I would be ETERNALLY grateful.. I don't have much, but if you send me your address and I'll send you a really cool thank you postcard from China!