Figures show a 20% increase in scams reported to the DVLA, with 1,538 reports made to the agency in the last three months of 2019.

The reports of suspected web, email, text or social media scams were up from 1,275 in the same period in 2018.

Scammers are targeting unsuspecting customers with links to services that don’t exist and messages of tax refunds, all of which are fake.

There are also reports of driver and vehicle documents up for sale on the internet.

To help prevent motorists falling victim to such scams, the DVLA has released images of recent scams.

DVLA chief information security officer, David Pope, said: “We’ve released examples of real life scams to help motorists understand when a scam is at work. These websites and messages are designed to trick people into believing they can access services that simply don’t exist such as removing penalty points from driving licences.

“All our tax refunds are generated automatically after a motorist has told us they have sold, scrapped or transferred their vehicle to someone else so we don’t ask for anyone to get in touch with us to claim their refund.

“We want to protect the public and if something seems too good to be true, then it almost certainly is.”

A spokesperson for Action Fraud said: “This can be a stressful time of year, sorting out finances for the year ahead. Fraudsters are aware of this and are using different ways to trick people.

“Taking a couple of minutes to familiarise yourself with a few simple online safety tips can be significant in protecting yourself from becoming a victim of online fraud.

“If you believe you have been a victim of fraud, please report it to us.”