Why do fraudsters get involved in particular forms of deceit? Why do people become victims of some frauds and not others? These questions are important because not every fraud involves a desire to obtain money on the part of the victimizer or victim. Indeed, the motivations behind wrongdoing and complicity in it can be quite diverse. This paper argues that, at least in some cases, analyzing a fraud through the details of its narrative can yield insights into why the fraud draws specific individuals in. Close analysis of the logic of a fraud’s narrative reveals that the motivating want or need of both sides of the fraudulent transaction can be remarkably similar, an aspect of fraud overlooked in social science investigations. This paper takes up three frauds as case studies. I analyze in detail a Holocaust fraud involving a quasi-feral child narrative, Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and the LuLaRoe illegal multi-level marketing scheme. I argue that these frauds were successful in conning specific individuals because the explicit and implicit logic of their narratives resonated with wants shared by fraudster and defrauded alike.