This is the 532nd most frequent Russian word.
оказались
"Turned out to be" or "found themselves."
The word 'оказались' in this sentence is used to mean 'ended up' or 'happened to be', implying an unexpected or surprising situation.
Они оказались в центре событий.
They found themselves in the center of events.
Here, 'оказались' signifies 'turned out', indicating that the outcome (the price) was different from the expectations.
Вещи оказались дороже, чем я ожидал.
The items turned out to be more expensive than I expected.
In this example, 'оказались' also means 'turned out to be', showing that the rumors were confirmed as true.