Card readers

[Argie]

My card reader in  my PC is very out of date now I think

So I was thinking of getting a new one.

Can you get them that read credit / debit cards / chip & pin? Am asking because, last time I called into my bank they asked me if I had a 'card reader' which apparrently does something to do with security in online transactions.

And.. can you get them that can read info off your mobile phone SIM?

Anything else I should be looking for these days in a 'card reader'?

[Hanner Cymraeg]

my bank sent me a card reader some time ago (long enough ago that I'm not sure where it is tbh) - I think it is used to put your card into & generates a random code which you then use to authenticate your online transaction. I'm sure it doesn't actually connect to your PC

not sure about SIM cards, I know you can get stand-alone readers that will create & store backups of your info but don't think I've ever seen one for a PC

[NigelWaring]

Plenty of credit card readers here but they are not legal, certain types have been known to skim your card and use the details later to empty your account.  There are also very sophisticated versions that stick on the front of cash machines doing the same thing.  During the last few months here the use of cash machines and EFTPOS transactions in stores has dropped by 20%.  You get your money back eventually but you have to jump through many hoops first.  Right now we are using stuff called "money" for most of our transactions to avoid the problems that others are having.