A jobless man from Dalgety Bay in Fife has been jailed for four years after a bank's fraud checks exposed a cocaine dealing operation that had earned him more than £709,000. Ross Black, 33, had not worked or paid tax since February 2021, yet had amassed the fortune in cash, bank accounts and savings, prompting his lender to alert authorities after his spending far exceeded what would be expected of someone in his declared job. The case highlights how banking safeguards designed to catch money laundering can uncover unrelated criminal activity even without a direct tip-off about drugs.

Prosecutors told the High Court in Edinburgh that a Monzo account flagged by Black, a former welder claiming to work in manufacturing, saw turnover of roughly £43,724 in just two months, triggering the report. Further inquiries found additional accounts and separate intelligence linking him to cocaine supply; when police stopped him in his Nissan Juke they recovered 17 bags of cocaine worth about £1,500, incriminating phone messages, and later found over £10,000 cash at his home. Black admitted being concerned in cocaine supply between October 2022 and October 2023 and to possessing criminal property worth £709,623 between April 2021 and October 2023; Judge Lord Summers said he would have faced six years but reduced the sentence for his guilty pleas, and the Crown is now pursuing recovery of his criminal profits.