We show that the boundary behaviour of solutions to nonlocal fractional equations posed in bounded domains strongly differs from the one of solutions to elliptic problems modelled upon the Laplace-Poisson equation with zero boundary data. In this classical case it is known that, at least in a suitable weak sense, solutions of non-homogeneous Dirichlet problem are unique and tend to zero at the boundary... Limits of these solutions then produce solutions of some non-homogeneous Dirichlet problem as the interior data concentrate suitably to the boundary. Here, we show that such results are false for equations driven by a wide class of nonlocal fractional operators, extending previous findings for some models of the fractional Laplacian operator. Actually, different blow-up phenomena may occur at the boundary of the domain. We describe such explosive behaviours and obtain precise quantitative estimates depending on simple parameters of the nonlocal pperators. Our unifying technique is based on a careful study of the inverse operator in terms of the corresponding Green function. (read more)