Fahmi, who is also the government spokesman, said MCMC would identify the companies and request clarification from them.

“We need to know the rationale behind the surcharge before we can determine whether it’s reasonable or not,” he told reporters at a post-Cabinet meeting press conference today.

Yesterday, Berita Harian reported that consumers’ associations and information technology experts had said the RM10 surcharge by telcos for scam or fraud protection services was “inappropriate”.

They also said such a fee was not in line with the responsibility of service providers to protect the safety of their users.

Deputy home minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah previously said the authorities recorded 47,854 online scam and fraud cases with total loss of RM1.919 billion between January and September.