Stealing your identity by taking over your cell phone accounts is happening more often these days. It’s often called a “SIM swap” scam because the SIM card in your phone (the “subscriber identity module”) is what identifies your phone to the cell phone network. The thieves will call up your cell phone company and switch out your SIM card number with another number. This makes your phone go dead and it transfers your number and your account to another phone.
You should already have a password or a pass code on your cell phone account. Some cell phone companies use your Social Security Number’s last four digits as your PIN. If you don’t have a password, or if your company uses your SSN as your PIN, you should add a password or change it to something else.