Patent ID: 7343349

Claim:
A method for securely transferring electronic funds comprising: (a) creating a computer file containing a digital representation of money; (b) assigning, through the use of a computer program resident on a personal computer and without the use of a secure network, at least one sender-defined security attribute to the file containing a digital representation of money, wherein the at least one security attribute precludes unauthorized access to the file containing the digital representation of money, and wherein the at least one sender-defined security attribute is defined at the time of an electronic fund transfer; (c) attaching the file containing a digital representation of money to an electronic mail message; and (d) transmitting the electronic mail message with attached file containing a digital representation of money over an insecure network to a recipient, wherein the at least one security attribute is requirement that the recipient of the file containing a digital representation of money prove they are the intended recipient through either a random number generator card, smart card, or biometric scan comprised of a retina scan, fingerprint, or voiceprint, and wherein a clearing bank receives a request that the file containing the digital representation of money be transmitted.