Lawyer’s warning for common prank that can ‘mess up your life’

A Sydney lawyer has issued a dire warning about incorrectly labelling bank transactions as a ‘joke” saying it can “mess up your life”.

A Sydney lawyer has issued a stark warning against incorrectly labelling bank transactions as a “joke” declaring it can “mess up your life”.

Jahan Kalantar, 36, is a crime and family lawyer at Executive Law Group. He told his almost 400,000 followers on Tik Tok he has had “legitimate cases” where banks have blacklisted clients because of the way they label their transactions.

Mr Kalantar explained an “Aussie tradition” where people go out with mates for dinner and one person pays but the transfer is labelled “naughty stuff, or orgy” on the bank transfer.

“I’ve done it, I think it is funny,” he said.

The helpful lawyer said the prank can ‘mess up your life’. Picture: Tik Tok / Jahankalantaroofficial

Kalantar says he has had ‘legitimate cases’. Picture: Tik Tok / Jahankalantaroofficial

But he warned there is a downside.

“Humourless people at banks often based overseas or using AI can mark these transactions,” he said.

While sometimes, he observed, you can explain them away, other times a bank can think the person is involved in criminality and close the account.

“Do you know how hard your life is when a bank closes your account?” he said.

“Suddenly you find yourself having difficulty accessing the global financial system which we use millions of times a day without even thinking about it.”

Kalantar told news.com.au that it “happens with sufficient regularity that people should be worried about it and shouldn’t be doing it flippantly”.

Cocaine, drugs, sex toys and terrorist weapons are some of the jokes people have used that have landed them into hot water.

He said his social media channel that he set up during the first lockdown in 2020 had “grown organically”.

“People are curious about the legal system and they want to learn their rights so it has been a pleasure to teach people,” he said.

Jahan Kalantar has 337,000 followers on the social media site Tik Tok. Picture: Executive Law Group

Kalantar’s video attracted a large number of comments.

One man commented that his partner once lost her key card and the bank asked for descriptions of previous transactions.

“She got embarrassed cause there was $10 for sex, we stopped after that,” he mused.

Another wrote a friend had jokingly written “sex work” on a transaction.

“I got a call asking what happened because it apparently set off some red flags or something.”

While another transferred money into his mother’s bank account and labelled it “I.S.I.S”.

“All her accounts got frozen and she had to an answer to ASIO,” he wrote.

Other TikTok users argued banks should “go back to minding their own business”.

One person admitted working for a bank and closing multiple people’s accounts on this basis.

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Originally published as Lawyer’s warning for common prank that can ‘mess up your life’