In Iraq, the best digits cost a mint
In Iraq, owning this special item can grease the skids in business, get a politician to stand at attention and even inspire affection in a sweetheart. This key that opens so many doors is a cellphone SIM card. But not just any SIM card. It must be “distinguished,” associated with a phone number considered prestigious […]Mustafa Salim and Tamer El-Ghobashy write for The Washington Post:
In Iraq, owning this special item can grease the skids in business, get a politician to stand at attention and even inspire affection in a sweetheart.
This key that opens so many doors is a cellphone SIM card. But not just any SIM card. It must be “distinguished,” associated with a phone number considered prestigious because it has a distinctive or beautiful series of digits. Say, for instance, a string of sevens or zeros, or a repeating pattern of numerals.
The marketplace for these modest pieces of plastic inside phones, which connect them to a network, can rival that of gold and precious stones — with trades in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.
