A mother stole daughter’s identity and wracked up $200,000 in debt to feed gambling addiction. Here’s what happened next

Someone else had taken out student loans in her name, opened credit card accounts she’d never seen and built a mountain of debt stretching back years. The culprit? Her own mother, who had been secretly battling a gambling addiction.

The revelation shattered Collier’s young adult life. Over the next decade, she endured a blur of credit disputes, hostile lenders, ruined credit and the heartbreak of watching someone she trusted destroy her entire financial future.

Collier has shared pieces of this story in various publications, but her new book, What Debt Demands: Family, Betrayal, and Precarity in a Broken System lays it all out. Her experience serves as a cautionary tale: sometimes the biggest financial threat doesn’t come from strangers online, but from the people you’re closest to.

How the fraud unfolded

Collier did eventually break free from the debt. But understanding how it happened took time.

As she investigated, she learned her mother had been using her personal information to secure loans and credit cards in her name for years. According to CNBC, Collier’s mother confessed to opening accounts in her daughter’s name, in amounts that went way beyond what anyone would need to fund an education (1).

“She should not have been able to take out those loans,” Collier told the broadcaster in a December interview. “Had the private student loan industry acted responsibly, they would have noticed something was off with my credit history. The amount of money borrowed far exceeded what I ever would need to attend a public university in-state.”

The damage peaked at close to US$400,000. Monthly payments hit US$2,000. Collier juggled multiple jobs just to keep her head above water while fighting with financial institutions.

So, why didn’t Collier report her mother to the police? She couldn’t bring herself to do it. That decision made her situation harder, but she drew a line: she wouldn’t trade her mother’s freedom for her own financial relief.

Bankruptcy ultimately cleared the fraudulent debt from Collier’s record.

“After 10 years of refuting this debt, I used the bankruptcy process to force a conversation, and my mother, the lenders and I signed paperwork that removed the debt from my name,” Collier said. “In some ways, I was lucky, because bankruptcy is not a pathway to relief for most student borrowers.”

Beyond the money, the psychological damage cut deep. Collier’s relationship with her mother fell apart and trust between them evaporated. Because of it, Collier developed stress-related health issues and she lived with constant anxiety that this debt would follow her forever.

How you can protect yourself from identity theft

Family-based identity theft hits differently than other fraud. A recent poll from market research company Léger found 25% of Canadians have experienced fraud or extortion — and when it involves family members, the betrayal adds another layer of pain (2).

Parents and siblings already know your birthdate and may have access to your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and other key details. In Collier’s case, her mother forged signatures and used her Social Security number to borrow money for years before she got caught.

Here’s how to guard against this type of fraud — and recover if it’s already happened.

Monitor your credit regularly: Checking your credit report helps you catch problems early (3). Both Equifax and TransUnion offer free credit reports to Canadians to simplify the process (4) (5).

Know the red flags: Signs of potential identity theft you should be concerned about include: being denied credit when you haven’t applied for anything, mysterious calls from collection agencies, accounts you didn’t open showing up on your report, your credit score unexpectedly dropping.

Take action even when family’s involved: Yes, it’s much more difficult when a loved one hurts you. But you still need to protect yourself. Report identity theft to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), put a freeze on all your accounts and credit files with both credit reporting bureaus, and challenge every fraudulent account.

Keep thorough documents: Save everything — every letter, email, phone call. Create a timeline and set calendar reminders for deadlines. Organization is vital when you’re fighting fraud.