(CNN) -- In crime labs across the country, law enforcement officials say more and more suspects are attempting to conceal their identity through fingerprint mutilation -- defacing the skin of their fingertips.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts charged three men in a conspiracy to "help illegal aliens evade detection through the mutilation or surgical removal of their fingerprints," according to a release from the U.S. attorney's office.
One of the accused, Jose Elias Zaiter-Pou, a doctor originally from the Dominican Republic, allegedly performed the procedure on patients for a fee $4,500.
According to Stephen G. Fischer Jr., a spokesman for the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services, whose department receives approximately 200,000 fingerprints daily, methods of fingerprint mutilation can vary depending on the circumstance and the criminal.
"It can go from people chewing on fingers, using a knife, burning acid or cigarettes," Fischer said. "Or if you have a career criminal or someone who is a little more affluent, they might go to a surgeon".
While no hard data on fingerprint mutilations exist, Fischer says the FBI's forensics examiners have noticed the uptick over the last few years, though the reason is unclear.
CNN
