OMG! This sort of happened to me many, many years ago when I was just19. (70's)
I worked for an insurance firm as a P.A. and the reps used to collect the cash payments from customers and pass to me which I kept in the petty cash box provided until I could bank it later in the day.
One day quite a large amount went missing - it was definitely there in the morning but much of it had gone by the time I went to the bank.
To cut an extremely long story short, I was accused by the M.D. of stealing it - I lived by myself and was on a pretty low wage so I was the obvious suspect.🤔
I was due to be paid for the month 2 days later but M.D. said he would deduct the missing money from my wages - left me with virtually nothing - and not involved police. With hindsight I should have insisted he did call the police but I was young and naive. I was also dismissed on the spot with no notice.
Thankfully, in those days I had a very good relationship with staff at Brook Street and Alfred Marks bureaux - they knew me really well - who found me bits of temp work, one of which led to another FT position.
3 months later I was in a city centre pub with friends and bumped into 2 of the reps from said insurance company. Turns out the exact same thing happened to the girl who took my place but she was older and wiser, set a trap and caught one of the newish reps helping himself to the cash when he thought no one was looking. Turned out he had been doing it for months and has at previous companies where he had worked. I believe he was eventually jailed.
I thankfully moved back to my home town and to much bigger and better things, but even almost 50 years later it still stings the way in which I was treated and, when they eventually found out who the real culprit was, the M.D. didn't have the guts/manners to apologise.😡