Posting in Reddit’s “True Off My Chest” forum under the username u/AITA_2191, the man added that, to make matters worse, his wife lied to the police when questioned about the theft. The post has garnered 9,600 upvotes and over 1,300 comments from stunned Redditors who slammed the man’s wife and stepdaughter for their “disgusting” behavior.

Cash at Home

Unfortunately, u/AITA_2191’s son isn’t the first person to have their cash stolen by a family member. A 2020 survey conducted by DepositAccounts, a LendingTree company, found that 24 percent of Americans reported having cash stolen between October 2018 and October 2019. Eighteen percent of those respondents said the theft occurred in their homes and 17 percent said the theft was perpetrated by a family member.

Many experts agree that it’s good to keep cash at home in case of emergencies; however, this money should be securely stored.

“The loss of a large amount of cash can happen in a matter of seconds if your home is damaged by a flood or fire. Fireproof safe storage is, therefore, a good idea. In addition, you’ll serve as a lure for would-be burglars…Even if you purchase a high-tech safe, a criminal may still attempt to break into your home,” Matthew Dailly, managing director at Tiger Financial, told GoBankingRates.

Ryan McCarty, CFP from McCarty Money Matters, also recommended using a “bolted-down safe.”

‘Off My Chest’

In his post, u/AITA_2191 said his son “J” was saving money for a special trip.

“He was saving to surprise the dad of his friend [Beau] who passed away for his first birthday without him,” u/AITA_2191 said. “Most kids would be saving for their first car or cool clothes, but he wanted to just ‘be there’ for his friend’s dad.”

J stored his money in his bedroom, thinking it would be safe. However, J’s stepsister “K”—who doesn’t have a job—came home two days ago with “a ton of new things.” Suspicious, J went to his room to check on his cash, but it was all gone.

So u/AITA_2191 drove home and confronted K about her shopping spree. K said she used her own money, but when her stepfather pressed the issue further, she got upset and told him to “mind [his] own business.”

“Instead of arguing back and forth with K, I checked the camera…it only caught her legs but it was K going into J’s room,” u/AITA_2191 said.

He told K to return everything and give the money back to J, but she refused. When K’s mom came home, she “burst into tears” and told u/AITA_2191 that it would be “embarrassing” for K to return all her things.

After some arguing, K and her mother packed up their bags and left, and on Thursday, u/AITA_2191 called the police.

“The solution was that the officer would call my wife to bring K to the station to talk…sort of a scare tactic because I was told it is a civil matter. My wife straight up f**king lied to the officer and said she gave the money to K…[now] nothing can be done. I’m LIVID,” u/AITA_2191 wrote.

“I literally watched J get his heart broken at the police station. Through tears, he said, ‘How could they do this to me, what was this all for, I just wanted to see Beau’s dad,’” he concluded.

Redditors React

Redditors slammed K and her mother for their behavior and encouraged u/AITA_2191 to file for divorce.

“Your wife (hopefully going to be an ex soon) is disgusting and so is her daughter,” u/nicoleabcd said.

“I’m as disgusted by your wife and her daughter as I am impressed by your son [for] working so hard and being so incredibly thoughtful and kind toward his friend’s dad,” u/m24b77 wrote.

u/pintora0318 added: “Divorce your wife immediately. Her daughter is trash. Let her stay with the kleptomaniac.”

In the comments section of his post, u/AITA_2191 said he will be filing for divorce next week. Newsweek has reached out to him for comment. You can read the full post here.

More Viral Stories

In July, a college student went viral after sharing that they had their boyfriend arrested for stealing $14,000 from them. That same week, a mother received praise for having a cop escort her boyfriend’s 19-year-old daughter from her home.

And earlier this month, Redditors backed a woman who “stole” her husband’s money to buy her daughter a bike.