“Prices start at around $8,000 but vary depending on the financial means of a victim’s family.”
That “sorry, wrong number” text is the opening move of a crypto romance scam. The people typing it are often trafficked workers locked in compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar, bought and sold for about $8,000 a head. Some who tried to leave turned up dead and got written off as suicides. The carriers still can’t stop a text from an obvious burner number.