This aunt is a perfume collector with over 400 bottles in her collection.

She was more than happy to share a few generous spritzes with her family and friends – as long as they asked permission first.

When her teenage niece went behind her back and turned her beloved hobby into a secret side business, it left both the fragrance bottles and family ties a little emptier.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for demanding that my niece, or her parents, pay me back for the hundreds of dollars of perfume she stole from me?

I have a perfume collection that I started when I was a teenager while slinging burritos as my first job.

I have over 400 bottles at this point.

I take great pride in my collection, and I use it.

I’m also happy to give people decants (samples) of most of my bottles, let them sample a spray or two, give some bottles as gifts, etc.

However, one person decided a generous sample wasn’t enough.

What I have a HUGE issue with is my 17-year-old niece coming into my home under the guise of walking my dog, decanting bottles on her own and SELLING THE SAMPLES to her friends.

She thinks that because I have so many bottles, I wouldn’t notice some missing or getting massive dents in them.

Her niece wasn’t being near as sneaky as she thought.

Well, little miss entrepreneur failed to realize that her “private” Instagram wasn’t “friends only” or whatever and I saw each and every story with each price and sample she had.

I tallied that up and got a pretty good estimate based on cost per ounce.

The collector is grateful she didn’t actually know that much about perfumes.

Thankfully, she mostly picked the “TikTok famous” perfumes like Bianco Latte and Escapade Gourmand and didn’t go for the most rare, niche perfumes.

She did snatch an entire 2.5 oz bottle of Baccarat Rouge, though, which runs $300+ at most retailers.

Also full bottles of perfumes you can get at Sephora like Marc Jacobs Daisy, Burberry Her Elixir, Flowerbomb, etc.

After doing her research, the collector hands the “bill” to her sister and her niece.

Petty or not, I printed out the entire list of what she’d taken, price estimate, and handed it off to my sister (her mom).

I said that I expect to be paid back, in full.

And, of course, her sneaky self is never allowed in my home again.

The sister surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) took her daughter’s side.

My sister got super ticked at me going on about how my niece is just a kid, kids make mistakes, etc.

I said yes, kids make mistakes, and this is a GREAT way for my niece to learn from hers.

Their argument is that now the money she was going to use for a car has to go towards paying me back.

But the collector doesn’t care how they have to get the money.

I don’t care.

She is lucky that I have no interest in involving the police, small claims, or any of that.

But AITA, because she IS a teenager?

It’s only reasonable to expect your family to do right by you.

What’s Reddit have to say?

Regardless of her age, stealing from a loved one is seriously messed up.

Based on her behavior, it doesn’t sound like the niece deserves a car.

Since her sister is defending her delinquent daughter, this redditor doesn’t see how the perfume collector can get her money back without more help.

This redditor doesn’t believe the “just a kid” excuse for one second.

Hopefully one day her wayward niece will learn that losing your family’s trust isn’t worth a quick profit.

Like an elegant fragrance, this breach of trust will linger for a long time to come.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.