I [22m] have unfortunately fallen victim to my dads gambling addiction. It started when he took advantage of me before I could realize it. In my 3rd year of university my dad tricked me into sending him some scholarship money that was going to be used to pay my tuition and then took out a loan to pay for the gap which I now have to pay, and he even took out extra to get him self a refund. He done this again the next semester . Honestly I wasn’t paying attention he always took care of my school payments and I really regret being stupid and not realizing.
My last year of school my mom promised to pay my schooling but when it came time my dad said he’d handle it and just took out a loan to fill it and then even stole my refund. I never said anything because honestly I’m horrible at confrontation but this really tears me up inside.
I love my parents and my dad but I’ve not felt the same since I’ve realized what he’s done. I truly believe that this is the addiction because otherwise he’s a good guy. I just don’t know how to even bring this up to my mom it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it because she’s living a lie. She caught him up in it in 2024 and I guess she forgave him , but I’ve seen him gambling on his phone again. The last time he took my refund he even deleted the email of the refund notification when he said he was going to pay a medical bill on my account and I found it later.
He has also borrowed cash some of which he paid me back and about 500 in which I know I won’t ever see again. My fear is that he will do this to my brother who is also in college . I am going to graduate soon and the fact that I am going to inherit an extra $7000 of debt makes me sick.
I don’t know how to bring this up to my mom or what to even say.
TL;DR my dad has gambled with loans in my name and I want to tell my mom about it but don’t know how.