Star Tech Journal

Multiple Bill Acceptors
Have Major Problenis
Ardac And Mars MBAs Easily Cheated
An anonymous phone tip came into
STAR*TECH Journal's offices concerning
the ease of Multiple Bill Acceptor rip-offs.
After reading about the "Notched Bill" article
in the Dec88 issue of SflJ, the caller de-
scribed a far more dangerous situation for
Industry operators who have any of these
MBA machines installed: Changers and/ or
Acceptors. The conditions described in this
article have been verified.
For some time now, Ardac MBA (88X-4001-
~ xx) $1 & $5 bill acceptors have been exposed
• to theft. Software revisions issued by the
company have not completely solved the
problem. Mars MBA (R020) $1, $5, $10 &
$20 bill acceptors are experiencing the same
problem but because they accept larger de-
nomination bills, are susceptible to a larger
degree of theft.
Meanwhile, investigative duties were turned
over to James Beck of Greater Southern
Distributing Co., Atlanta, GA for factory
follow-up. Here is his report:
Needless to say, when STAR*TECH Journal
passed along the information to me for veri-
fication, I was a bit skeptical. But, with the
help of Don Baker (bill changer technician at
Greater Southern Distributing Co.) we
managed to pull the scam off with a surpris-
ingly little amount of effort or practice! We
immediately contacted Mars and Ardac.
We talked at length with Stan Gossard from
Ardac and we even demonstrated the prob-
lem toJerryCarrfromMars. Both manufac-
turers were eager to find a solution to the
problem which was immediately turned over
to their respective engineering departments.
As of this moment, the official word from
The procedure for gaining change or credits
from one of these machines is relatively
simple, but at this time, it is unclear how
widespread the problem maybe. Reports are
that the procedure is spreading quickly.
The procedure has been verified by
,,..-..., STAR*TECH Journal and has, in fact, re-
sulted in the simulated theft of money in the
form of cash or credits. Both factories have
been informed and we are awaiting remedy
information from them.
both is that the problem is NOT a national
field problem (i.e. it hasn't spread from very
localized areas) and that a fix is definitely in
the works. For more information on the
corrective measures being taken by the fac-
tories call: Mars Electronics (PA) 800/523-
5146 and Ardac Inc. (OH) 800/321-0765.
The only protective advice available at this
moment is to place any machine with one of
these MBA heads installed into a visible area
where any tampering will be easily observed.