The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has issued an alert listing serial numbers of vehicle registration documents that have been stolen and may be in use by car criminals.

According to the DVLA, the documents could be being used by criminals to accompany stolen vehicles that have had their identity changed to match that of a legitimate vehicle - a practice known as "cloning".

The stolen certificates have a different background colour on the Notification of Permanent Export (V5C/4) tear off slip on the second page, which looks mauve on the front and pink on the reverse. On legitimate documents they should be mauve on both sides.

The DVLA warned people not to purchase a vehicle, but to report the matter to the police if the serial number of the registration document fell within the following ranges - BG9167501 to BG9190500, BG9190501 to BG9214000, BG8407501 to BG8431000 and BG9282001 to BG9305000.

Nick Lindsay, director of independent vehicle information specialist HPI, said: "The theft of these documents is alarming and will undoubtedly add to the growing number of stolen vehicles that are being cloned. The cloned vehicles are sold on to unsuspecting members of the public who suffer significant financial losses when their vehicles are confiscated by the police."

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