ComplaintsforATG Title Inc

• Initial Complaint

  02/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 25th I received an email from what seemed to be our settlement agent from ATG with wire instructions for the down payment on the house we are buying. I called ATG using their publicly available phone number from ****** and spoke to the receptionist. I read her the email address, employee name, and employee phone number that I was contacted by and she told me that is the general mailbox email address associated with the title company. I then proceeded to wire the down payment following the emailed instructions. My real estate agent also confirmed with the listing agent and another employee of the title company that the wire request was legitimate and sent from the title company. A week later on May 2 my loan officer informed me that the ATG does not have the money that I wired, and that the wire was most likely wired to a fraudulent account. After more phone calls with ATG and involved agents, it was confirmed that the money was wired to a fraudulent account, and the email that i received the wire instructions from was a fraudulent email address. I would like to hold ATG liable for this loss.

  Business response

  03/02/2023

  Hello, 

  Unfortunately this client responded to a phishing scam where the scammer used the same name as one of our employees, but had a different email. One would not know the actual email address was false unless they clicked on it. Our email domain is atgtitle.com and the phishing scam email domain was ********************************************* The Title Company became aware of the incident on May 2nd when the lender reached out asking for proof of wire receipt. We immediately took action and concluded that the client had been scammed. We do have fraud notices in our intro emails, signature blocks, and delivery notices that state we would not send wire instructions through email, only through our closing secure platform, ******. When the client called our office to verify an employee, they only asked if the employee worked with us, which our receptionist at the time said yes. Unfortunately the client did not speak to anyone else to verify the actual wire instructions they received including account name, account number, routing, etc. The Scammer took the same name as our Employee so no one would have known any different unless they looked at the actual email address domain. When the client emailed their agent to verify if *** (our employee) was a real person, the agent said yes. That is true, but no one verified the actual email or domain.

  Attached is the documentation that we compiled of the incident and reported to the FBI  and local police.

• Initial Complaint

  01/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  We sold a home at *********************************, Sterling, VA and the settlement was completed at ATG Title company Dec end 2019. The withholding tax of $29,250 was sent into the IRS without the SS#. The check was cashed by the United States Treasury on January 22nd, 2020 but it has not been credited to the seller's account with the IRS. We have followed up with ATG Title after being informed by the IRS of the shortfall in sellers account. Since May 2021 we have received no resolution from the Title company. We had 7 closings in 2019 with the same agent and different title companies, and we had no such problem with any of them. A simple closing has turned into a nightmare and they show no accountability by working actively towards a resolution. Since May they have been stalling us with - "we are working on it and IRS is short staffed". They have not provided any straight answers or even a case number upon multiple requests. This has caused us a huge problem, inconvenience and cost to have our accountant follow up with them and the IRS, trying to locate this check. It has been 8 months and counting with no resolution in sight.

  Business response

  02/18/2022

  To Whom It May Concern, 
              This letter is to address ******* *****'s complaint with your organization regarding an alleged contract dispute with ATG Title, Inc., that originated from the 2019 sale and purchase of a residence located at **************************************, Sterling, Virginia 20166.  In a transaction involving a foreign individual, such as that one, the Federal Tax Code requires the withholding of fifteen percent (15%) of the sales price to be remitted to the Internal Revenue Service.  Here, ****** ***********, is a foreigner who owned a 50% interest in the property.  ATG Title, Inc.'s sole function in this real estate transaction was to collect fifteen percent (15%) of the sales price and forward that amount and the withholding application to the  Internal Revenue Service. 

  *** *********** completed the withholding application incorrectly by failing to list his correct social security number.  Based on information available to ATG Title, Inc., **. ********************* did not have a social security number at the time and put a "made up" social security number on the withholding application.  ATG Title, Inc., mailed the withholding application ****** *********** and ************************* provided along with the withheld fifteen percent (15%) of the sales price, via Check #******, to the Internal Revenue Service on December 31, 2019.  Please note that ATG Title, Inc. did not include ****** *********** and ************************* Social Security Number on Check #******.  The IRS cashed Check #****** from ATG Title, Inc., on or about January 23, 2020.  However, the Internal Revenue Service misapplied the withheld fifteen percent (15%) of the sales price to ATG Title, Inc.’s tax account instead of that of ****** *********** and *************************.  
  Upon learning of the issue in mid-2021, which was over a year after the transaction was complete, ATG Title, Inc., initially attempted to resolve the matter internally.  Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service proved so difficult that in the summer of 2021, ATG Title, ***** retained an attorney, at its own expense, to deal handle the matter.   Even after hiring an attorney, the process of dealing with the Internal Revenue Service has proven to be slow and arduous.  After months of dealing with the Internal Revenue Service's "firewall" in January 2022, an Internal Revenue Service representative finally informed ATG Title, Inc.’s attorney that the failure to list the ****** ************ correct social security number on the withholding application was the issue.    
  

  Presently, ATG Title, Inc., is still waiting to hear back from the Internal Revenue Service on its most recent request  to have the fifteen percent (15%) of the sales price deducted from ATG Title, Inc.s tax account and transferred to ****** ***********'s account.   At this point, the problem is still ongoing, and everyone must wait until the Internal Revenue Service corrects the error.  Nevertheless, ATG Title, Inc., will continue working on this issue until the matter is resolved. 
  I hope this adequately explains the full story with regards to the complaint filed with your agency.  Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Thank you for your professional attention to this matter.   
  
  Sincerely, 
  
  J. Hope O************

  Director of Operations 
  ATG TITLE, INC 
  ***** ***************** 
  Suite *** 
  Fairfax, VA ***** 
  Direct Phone: ************ | Fax: ************ Tell us why here...

  Customer response

  02/24/2022

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Dear Sir/Madam, 

  We received the response you sent us from ATG Title. 
  Thank you for your efforts.
  
  The statements made by the company are simply false. 
  
  ****** has had a SSN for decades.
  And with all our email correspondence with ATG Title since Jan 2021, 
  they never brought up a made up SSN number in any of those.
  ****** has been filing tax returns since 2009 when he purchased property in the US.
  ****** had 4 closings during 2019 on the following properties 
  They are listed below for your verification -
  
  **** ****************************************************************************** *****
  
  ** *******************************, 
  ********, ** *****
  
  ** *******************************, 
  ********, ** *****
  
  ***** *******************
  ********, ** *****
  
  We've had absolutely no issues with ** ************* tax withholding on the first three sales, 
  which were handled by 3 other title companies. 
  The last one, at ******************* was improperly handled by ATG Title 
  for which we are filing this complaint after patiently awaiting a resolution from them since January of last year.  
  
  Check of $29,250 misappropriated by the IRS for lack of including a SS number of ****** ***********, [the payee] 
  has resulted in ** *********** receiving tax due notices for $14,571.08
  The balance of $14,678.92 is the refund that ** *********** should have received last year. 
  
  More appalling than the false statements about **. ***********s SSN, is this - 
  ATG Title - "However, the Internal Revenue Service misapplied the withheld fifteen percent (15%) 
  of the sales price to ATG Title, Inc.s tax account instead of that of ****** *********** and *************************". 
  
  This is the first we are hearing that the funds were applied to ATG Title, Inc's tax account. 
  Should not ATG Title have become aware of these additional funds in their account and inform us about it, 
  far before we got notice of ** ************* tax liability from his accountant over a year later? 
  And 
  SINCE THE FUNDS ARE SITTING IN THE TAX ACCOUNT OF ATG TITLE SINCE PAST TWO YEARS, 
  WHY DO THEY NOT ISSUE US A CHECK and we will pay the tax owed to the IRS? 
  The funds are not missing, they are sitting in ATG Titles's account!! 
  
  It is very hard to believe that an attorney was specially hired to resolve this issue, with no results for over a year. 
  In fact it seems that it was only after they received our complaint filed through your respected Bureau 
  that they even pushed the issue and "stayed on the phone" as Hope email dated Jan 18th 2022 indicates. [copied below] 
  Please note that this is a year after we informed them of the problem. 
  
  Hope O******** <************@atgtitle.com> Jan 18, 2022, 11:32 AM
  
  to me, ******
  
  Hello, I am attaching a copy of the fax that we have refaxed a few times to the IRS 
  but we stayed on the phone to ensure they DID receive it. 
  They said they attached it to the open file and they will assign it to someone as soon as they can but they can't give us a timeframe. 
  The next step would be to send out a formal letter to us stating this has (or has not) been resolved. 
  They could not give us anything in writing today, of course. THEN, if this is finally resolved, 
  they mail you a copy of the **** * Form (page 4 of the attached) stamped by the IRS which you would submit with your taxes to apply for a credit.
  The issue began with the form showing the buyer's last four of his SSN (not the FULL SSN) 
  and not having the seller's correct SSN on the witholding ******* form, so the process did not get started or assigned to anyone at the IRS.  
  Our attorney tried correcting it over and over again but we get a different person each time and each time they RESTARTED the process. 
  This time we stayed on the phone. It is so arduous getting someone at the IRS... 
  
  Please confirm receipt of this email and as always thank you for your patience.
  ===============================================================
  
  It is unfortunate that ATG Title chooses to deflect blame on the handling of a big check to the IRS, with false information. 
  We can't get our head around a Title company sending in a check to the IRS without a SS # of the payee in the memo of the check. 
  
  Since the funds are sitting in their account, we expect this to be resolved in the next 30 days and to provide compensation for our financial loss. 
  
  Best Regards 
  *******
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

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