SIM Swapping is a social engineer technique to transfer your telephone number to the bad actor’s SIM card, and therefore their phone. Once done that, they will then be able to use your phone number they stole from you to get into your bank’s portal, or other government sites. They will usually do this at late night while you are likely asleep to maximize the potential of damage they can inflict. They can also use AI generated calling to your known contacts stating that you are in trouble, and need money now. Since the AI is cloning your voice, it would sound like you.
The best realistic way to prevent SIM swapping is to lock your phone to the carrier. In my instance, I have to go through a process to unlock my phone before I can get the account number, and Port PIN. While not ideal, it is the best solution I found. I will assume that my carrier’s customer service can’t help the bad actor port my number out until I unlock my phone number. The only time I will unlock my phone number is if I am intending on porting that number to another carrier.