Mumbai, July 31: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday warned people about 'rice puller' scam and urged them not to fall a prey to a device that is claimed to have magical properties. The RBI in its release cautioned people not to believe such false claims and asked them to report such incidences immediately to the investigating authorities.

In a statement, the RBI said that it has been brought to its notice that "some unscrupulous persons" are marketing a device termed 'rice puller' made up of copper/iridium, that is claimed to possess magical properties of attracting grains of rice towards it.

In its warning titled 'Cautionary advice on Rice pulling Scam', the RBI said, "The persons associated have been reportedly misrepresenting the Government Securities auction circulars/Notifications issued by RBI/GoI as proof of RBI sourcing funds for such activities on behalf of the sellers of these articles”.

The Central Bank added saying that it is reiterated that associating with such unscrupulous persons can result in direct financial losses and the public in their own interest should refrain from responding to such offers in any manner.

The RBI is scheduled to release its third bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2018-19 on August 1. All eyes will be on the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) meeting on Wednesday. Reports inform that the decision of the MPC will be announced at 14:30 hours on August 1.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2018 11:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).