The woman was dying of cancer, given just six months to live, and people around New Zealand rallied to raise money to try unburden her last days.

Except she wasn't actually dying. She didn't have cancer.

She sucked in family, friends and hundreds of generous strangers with her scam, but perhaps there is an explanation for it.

She was diagnosed with factitious disorder, a rare psychological condition that causes otherwise healthy people to fabricate illnesses in order to garner sympathy.

Masquerading as a cancer sufferer, she was shaving her head and plucking her eyebrows to mimic the effects of chemotherapy.

Her illness was an elaborate ruse - the woman has now been convicted of fraud and sentenced to 18 months' intensive supervision and three months' community detention, and must pay back just over half of what she stole.

She was granted permanent name suppression in the Auckland High Court and was sentenced on Thursday.

Ian Goodwin, an Auckland-based forensic psychiatrist, said it was relatively rare for cases of factitious disorder to come to light publicly because those with the disorder were not always caught out.

"It's a hard one to research because these people are lying. Most of the people do have some degree of serious ... personality issues."

But it wasn't a case of the person believing they had a sickness - it was a person actively trying to trick others by imitating the symptoms of an illness, he said.

"You are actually faking the illness and the effects of treatment. It's purposefully creating or exaggerating a condition.

"Some people describe it as a particular form of lying, a particular way of deceiving people."

Those with the disorder wanted sympathy, Goodwin said.

"The core of it is that the person assumes the social role and all the benefits that go with being a sick person. What they're after is sympathy and social identity, wanting to be seen ... [under the social label that] cancer survivors are wonderfully courageous people.

"Generally when you are sick, people cut you quite a lot of slack. People treat you kindly."

While factitious disorders have always existed, he said, it was only recently with the rise in fundraising websites that more cases were being uncovered as the perpetrators got caught out.

With social media, it was simple for other people to set up crowd sourcing to try and help their supposedly sick friends or family members.

In the past, if financial gain was involved it would have been considered malingering rather than factitious disorder - although the two were now entwined.

The mother pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges for conning donors out of more than $NZ27,000 on crowd sourcing sites, online auctions, and concerts in her honour.

Judge Claire Ryan said the woman's fraud had a serious impact on the lives of her victims, many of whom had decided they could no longer support people seeking donations.

"[It was] a pattern of telling people, I'm sick, I'm really unwell. Suddenly she's ended up with money, which she has spent and she can't repay, and she's been caught," Judge Ryan said.

It was possible she didn't set out with the intention of gaining money - it likely started as a means of garnering love and support, Judge Claire Ryan said.

"I can't accept your offending wasn't deliberate. You knew what was happening, you enjoyed what was happening.

"You took the money and you spent it. Because of your factitious disorder you enjoyed the attention."

The woman cried throughout her December court appearance - when her sentencing was put off for an administrative reason - working her way through a box of tissues on the bench in front of her.

On Thursday, however, she appeared more composed. Although crying briefly, she sat stone-faced and dry-eyed as the judge read to her the victim impact statements of the people and companies she had defrauded.

The victims were unanimous that the woman's actions meant they no longer trusted people seeking charitable donations. The companies who donated items for auction - which were sold by the woman and the money spent on herself - say they may not offer donations anymore.

One charitable organisation said in a statement: "I can't believe someone would stoop so low ... when there are so many people out there fighting for their lives. I'm appalled by the level of deceipt."

The woman's fraud took in almost everyone.

Her family, friends, and countless strangers believed the ruse, genuinely thinking the woman was dying - they all tried to help her, emotionally and financially.

The establishment of a fundraising page for her generated almost $NZ14,000 from well-wishing donors. Auctions and events generated another $NZ13,000.

The funds were to allow the woman to live out some of her dreams before she died.

For her part, since being caught, the woman had pleaded guilty to the charges.

Her lawyer, Alex Steedman, said his client wanted to accept culpability for her actions.

"My client has never denied her offending," he said. "In terms of her culpability, she's always accepted that."

Judge Ryan granted the woman permanent name suppression, due to her mental health condition.

It was revealed in court the offender had a vast history of hospital admissions for invented conditions.

The suppression was granted on the back of testimony from a clinical psychologist at the aborted December sentencing.

Barry Kirker, a clinical psychiatrist who had assessed the offender, told the court the woman's factitious disorder would be aggravated by the stress of her name being published.

There was a possibility that the woman could endanger her baby's health, he said. Factitious Disorder (or Munchausen) by proxy is another manifestation of the condition, in which parents create and inflict illnesses upon their children to garner sympathy and support from others.

She had recently had a baby, the court was told.

There was also the possibility the increased stress could cause the woman to self-harm, Dr Kirker said.

The woman said she was able to pay back $NZ50 a week in reparations.

She was ordered to pay back just over half of what she stole - $NZ14,200 - over the next five years.

Stuff