TEST Valley Borough Council are warning residents not to fall for scams accusing motorists of owing money through unpaid parking fines.

The borough council is 'alerting residents' not to fall for the scam which involves residents receiving a text about a 'Parking Penalty Charge Notice'.

A highly circulated version of the message reads: "Please pay a parking penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by a local council.

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"If you do not pay a PCN within 28 days, you'll get a 'charge certificate' and you'll have 14 days to pay the original fine plus 50 per cent more.

"If you do not pay you'll be prosecuted - you may have to pay a bigger fine as well as court costs. Please pay your fine at the link after reading the information."

The text message then includes a link to a website, which encourages residents to input their personal information and payment details to pay the 'fine'.

A spokesperson for Test Valley Borough Council has reassured residents that the messages are fraudulent.

They added: "The council does not issue Parking Penalty Charge Notices via text messages. Genuine fines are sent by post.

"If you receive one of these texts, please do not click the link or pay the fine. Instead, report the scam by forwarding the text for free to 7726, as advised by Action Fraud and the National Cyber Security Centre."