“Kulungile-ke, kodwa wazi ukuthi ngeke ngilindane nawe mina,” kusho uKabelo. “Ngifuna ukufika edolobheni ngidayise leli dayimane lami elisha nelibenyezelayo.” Washo ezihambela uKabelo, ehlaba umlozi ngenjabulo. “ O our God , we thank you and praise your beautiful name . ” ​ — 1 CHRON . This qualitative case study research endeavour is a direct result of limited research on female fraud research in South Africa. The research questions that guided this research are: What are the different pathways and lived experiences of the females incarcerated for fraud?; What are the causes, contributory factors and motives of the sample-specific female fraud offenders? and Can the criminal behaviour of each female offender be explained by means of criminological theories?. Seven adult female offenders voluntarily participated in this research project and their unique narratives, pathways and lived experiences were depicted and analysed to determine the causes, contributory factors and motives related to their offending behaviour. Criminological theories and the gendered theory of female offending were applied to explain their fraud-related behaviours. The findings suggest that overlapping causes (i.e. lack of self-control), contributory factors (i.e. rationalisation of behaviour) and motives (i.e. greed) played a prominent role in the female offenders’ fraud-related behaviours.