With over 6,000 bookings placed for the Perodua Ativa already in only three weeks, it’s definitely a hot-selling compact SUV. But as with all sought-after products, people are already taking advantage of the situation, which is enough for Perodua to warn potential customers to only deal with authorised sales advisors for the Ativa.

“We (Perodua) have discovered at least two fraudulent rebate offers online for the newly-launched Perodua Ativa, which is not our practice,” said the CEO of Perodua, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad. He further added that such promotions do not come from Perodua or any of its outlets nationwide.

This is a similar situation faced by Proton when the Proton X50 was opened for booking, and the national carmaker issued a similar warning. Perodua also said that scammers are even posing as Perodua sales advisors to lure potential customers into transferring a deposit for a new car – the Ativa is likely a popular target now – into their own personal bank accounts, which is definitely not recommended.

Regardless of the situation, it’s best to perform any kind of financial transactions with official parties. Make sure that you are only making payments to company accounts; never transfer money to personal accounts no matter what you are told.

Nonetheless, there’s no denying the popularity of the Perodua Ativa, thanks to its range of attractive features. If you’d like to learn more about the compact SUV, check out our other coverage of the Ativa.