Systems and methods for facilitating transactions between a mobile device and a service machine are disclosed. The system comprises a wireless radio frequency (RF) communication module configured to transmit a RF signal using a RF technology with a given operation range; and a hardware attenuation module configured to attenuate the RF signal to a predefined Transmitted Power Output (TPO) in a first attenuation mode such that communication between the apparatus and the mobile device starts only when the mobile device is positioned relative to the service machine in a detection range that is significantly smaller than the given operation range.