Manufacturers and retailers may have to come up with better designs for their peelable labels featuring coupons after it was revealed that some shoppers are using them to commit fraud.

Police have been called several times in recent months over cases in which people had reused money-off vouchers several times, with some wrongly getting thousands of pounds knocked off their bills as a result.

In July, a couple from Cambridgeshire were prosecuted after repeatedly claiming £17.50 off the cost of their shopping at Tesco using a Clubcard voucher, even though it should only have been used once.

The Institute of Sales Promotion warned that the tough economic situation at present could be encouraging consumers to try getting more than they should, although it warned the practice is "plain fraud".

Some shoppers were found to be using technology to copy coupons, so manufacturers could consider bringing in bespoke printed labels with authenticity holograms or similar measures to prevent it.

This comes after NCH Marketing Services found that 22.6 per cent of all instant, on-pack vouchers are redeemed, the highest rate for any kind of coupon, eMarketer reported