Can a cell phone number be used by someone else?

Can a cell phone number be used by someone else? Ugh, it's terrifying, isn't it? But yeah, sadly, your number can be stolen. It's crazy! These scammers are so sophisticated now; they don't even need to physically have your phone. They can spoof your caller ID – I've heard horror stories about that – or even do a SIM swap remotely. Can you believe that? Like, how is that even possible?! It makes me so mad, honestly. It feels so invasive, you know? Like they're stealing a piece of you, a part of your identity. Remember a few years ago, my aunt, bless her heart, had her number stolen? She was getting calls from all these debt collectors for loans she never took out! It was a nightmare trying to sort it all out. I read somewhere – I think it was a consumer reports article, or something like that – that SIM swapping is on the rise. Something like, I don't know, thousands of cases a year? It's insane. We seriously need better protections against this kind of thing. It just shouldn't be so easy for these creeps to steal our numbers and wreak havoc.