No need to be aggro about it. No one’s suggesting iPhones are unhackable, just that realistically utilizing an iOS or Android exploit like that is a bit much for something simple like credit card fraud. Those exploits are valuable.
Why would someone burn a device level exploit for $5k when you could sell the exploit for 10x or even 100x more?
Sounds like an easy way to burn your exploit after using it a few times to get electronics off Amazon.
What makes you think this was used for only $5k? In these cases, hackers usually target many victims, not just one.
Would you cite the marketing to which you referred? I’ve never seen it.