A well established email scam that asks people to look after funds for a Nigerian government official has spawned a copycat message from sources closer to home.

The email pretends to be from Patricia Ferguson, the Scottish Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport, and asks people to help move $40m (£21.6m) for a share of the cash.

The email contains links to the Member of the Scottish Parliament's personal website in an attempt to look genuine, but a security firm has warned that it is designed to steal the victim's bank details. 

"Not only are these scammers sullying the name of Patricia Ferguson, they are trying to take advantage of people's temptation to earn a small fortune for little effort," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"Email users should not believe everything they receive via email, and should think before sharing their personal information with others."

Sophos warned that sharing information with the scammers could lead to demands for money, stolen identities and financial theft.

The well-thumbed email con-trick is known as a 419 scam after the section of the Nigerian penal code that covers this kind of crime.