My niece stole 60,000 yuan from me. What should I do?

60,000 yuan in Fujian Province already exceeds the theft “large amount” standard (3-10 years imprisonment), and this is absolutely not a small matter. Your current core dilemma is: do you want the money, or do you want her to be punished? It is recommended to handle it according to the following steps:

1. First, ensure the evidence is solid

Before confronting her, you must secure evidence to prevent her from denying it or transferring the funds:

• Key points for evidence collection: bank statements, transfer records, surveillance footage, and chat records (admitting to stealing money or borrowing money).

• Key actions: if the money is still in the card/account, immediately report it as lost or freeze the account; if it was cash, recall the exact time point of the last time you counted it.

2. Choosing between two paths

Path A: Focus on recovering the money (preferred)

If you don’t want your niece to go to jail and you want to preserve family relations:

1. Apply pressure within the family: gather her parents (your siblings) to confront her together, present evidence, and demand full repayment within a set deadline.

2. Sign a repayment agreement: if she can’t repay all at once, you must have her write an IOU, clearly stating the amount, the installment plan, and preferably with her parents’ guarantee.

3. Legal bottom line: make it clear to her that repaying the money and obtaining forgiveness is the only way to avoid criminal punishment (the law provides that relatives who commit theft and are forgiven may not be treated as a crime).

Path B: Report to the police and pursue criminal responsibility

If the other party’s attitude is bad, she refuses to admit it, or the money has already been squandered:

• Report immediately: 60,000 yuan qualifies as “a large amount,” and the police must file a case.

• Warning of consequences: once a case is filed, even if she repays later, the criminal record and sentencing risk are extremely difficult to completely remove (typically sentenced to more than 3 years and less than 10 years).

• Definition of relatives: your niece does not fall under the legal definition of “close relatives” (only spouses, parents, children, etc.), so she cannot enjoy the complete exemption of “handling it within the family.” Reporting will treat it as ordinary theft.

3. Sentencing risks in Fujian

According to Fujian’s theft standards:

• Case-filing threshold: 3,000 yuan.

• Large amount: 60,000 yuan (you are right on the line).

This means that once the matter goes through judicial procedures, she will face a heavy risk of 3-10 years imprisonment.

4. Action recommendations

1. Be polite first, then be firm: today, first talk with her parents together, give a 3-day deadline requiring repayment or the signing of an agreement.

2. Call the police as a fallback: if talks break down or she plays dumb, report directly to the police. Don’t be softhearted because of family ties and end up suffering a huge loss yourself.

3. Mental preparation: make plans for the worst case (you may not get the money back), and prepare yourself to decide whether you are willing to let your niece keep a criminal record for 60,000 yuan.