Bulgaria's Interior Ministry sent out a warning for a new version of the so-called Nigerian Scam.

The classic Nigerian Scam, also known as advance-fee fraud, consists of a message telling the recipient that a large sum of money is waiting for him in a bank account somewhere abroad. If the recipient decides to respond, all kinds of expenses emerge that need to be covered before the money can be transferred. New expenses, including transport expenses, insurances, transfer fees and so on, continue compounding until the victim stops paying.

The new scam, Bulgaria's Interior Ministry said in an announcement posted on the ministry's website, makes use of SMSs. The SMS claims that the recipient has won a lottery by Nokia and asks the recipient to contact Nokia via a telephone number in the UK or an e-mail address that has no connection with Nokia. The sender of the SMS is usually a Nigerian telephone number, the Interior Ministry said.

Nigerian telephone numbers start with the Nigerian country code of +234.

Since they appeared in the early 1980s, Nigerian Scams have made use of postal mail, fax and, lately, e-mail.

The Interior Ministry advised recipients of these SMSs to not reply.