(WISH) — As the Wednesday’s state and federal income tax deadline approaches, a watchdog agency has issued a warning about ghost preparers.

A ghost preparer is someone who prepares taxes but fails to actually sign the tax return and “ghosts” the taxpayer after the fact.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service, a federal watchdog agency, issued an alert saying they can take off with taxpayers’ money and their personal information.

Federal law requires tax preparers to include their Preparer Tax Identification Number, or PTIN.

Ghost preparers may leave that off taxpayers’ returns because they don’t have a PTIN or they don’t want to be held acco...