RIYADH: A number of mobile phone shops in the Kingdom have reportedly been found charging between SR10 and SR50 for taking the fingerprints of consumers.

The irregularity was discovered by the team of a local publication, which found that the unsuspecting victims were citizens as well as residents.

The fingerprint registration process is free of charge, and anyone taking money for it is a violation of the Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) regulations, well informed sources were quoted as saying by the publication on Saturday.

However, the owners of these shops said they pay a percentage of these fees to the communication companies according to pre-signed agreements between the two sides.

The sources said the CITC is within its rights to punish such violators through a special penalties list.

The CITC, on Jan. 21, directed all communication providers in the Kingdom to apply the fingerprint system for its subscribers in the mobile communication service, and to match and check the fingerprints with the personal identification documents, including the national ID for citizens and Gulf nationals, Muqeem ID for residents, border number for visitors including pilgrims, temporary residency card for visitors, commercial registration number of the business sector and the unified single number for the other parties.