> Hacking someone’s phone number is almost impossible to do, as someone would need to steal the physical SIM card or clone it at least. An almost impossible venture for the majority of fraudsters.

Wiretapping/redirecting SMS is actually surprisingly easy and doesn't require stealing/cloning SIM cards. Not sure how it compares to wiretapping unencrypted IP networks, but based on a demo I saw today I would guess it's easier.