Phone providers, email providers, and banks should provide an option to require in-person verification for account recovery or in the case of phone providers transfer of a number to a different SIM. These events should be infrequent enough that it would be OK if there was a fee for verification.
This might seem impractical for people who live somewhere that the provider doesn't have an office, but it actually isn't. There is a nationwide, readily available mechanism already in place for this. They are called notary publics.
It could work like this:
1. You request account recovery, and pay the fee, and provide your physical contact information.
2. The provider hires a notary public in your area, and sends them a form for you to sign authorizing the account recovery.
3. The notary meets with you, verifies your identity, notarizes your signature on the form, and then lets your provider know that this has successfully completed.
4. Now that the provider knows the request was legitimate, the recovery or transfer can go through.
This might seem impractical for people who live somewhere that the provider doesn't have an office, but it actually isn't. There is a nationwide, readily available mechanism already in place for this. They are called notary publics.
It could work like this:
1. You request account recovery, and pay the fee, and provide your physical contact information.
2. The provider hires a notary public in your area, and sends them a form for you to sign authorizing the account recovery.
3. The notary meets with you, verifies your identity, notarizes your signature on the form, and then lets your provider know that this has successfully completed.
4. Now that the provider knows the request was legitimate, the recovery or transfer can go through.