A RFID device with a surface treatment which interferes with the transmission of RF signals/data between the RFID device and the RF interrogator or reader. A surface treatment of either RF reflective or RF absorptive ink is deposited on a RFID device using an attenuation pattern to fine tune the read range of the RFID device thereby eliminating or reducing the occurrence of accidental or cross reads between nearby RF interrogators or readers.The surface layer may be deposited at the time of printing the labels thereby fixing the attenuation at a known level or the surface treatment may be applied in an on-demand fashion allowing the attenuation level to be varied to an individual requirement.