A system and method for securing a Radio Frequency (RF) transaction using
a RF identification device transaction device is provided. The invention
uses the routing number and customer identifying information associated
with a transaction account to secure a RF transaction. Specifically, the
customer identifying information is included in an encrypted payload that
is provided to a merchant point-of-sale device in a unused field of the
RF data transmission. The routing number is provided in the ordinary
field location of the data transmission typically reserved for the
transaction account number. Additionally, the encrypted payload is
provided in the unused field of the data transmission. The routing number
is used to locate the corresponding encryption key for validating the RF
transaction device, the transaction account and/or customer identifying
information without the need for the reader to encrypt the customer
identifying information before providing a transaction request to an
account issuer.