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Ben Langhofer, a financial planner and single father of three in Wichita, Kansas, decided to start a side business. He had made a handbook for his family, laying out core values, a mission statement, and a constitution. He wanted to help other families put their beliefs into a real book, one they could hold and display.
So Langhofer hired web developers about two years ago and set up a website, customer relationship management system, and payment processing. On Father’s Day, he launched MyFamilyHandbook.com. He’s had some modest success and has spoken with larger groups about bulk orders, but business has been mostly quiet so far.
That’s how Langhofer knew something was wrong on Friday, August 11, when a woman from California called about a fraudulent charge. He checked his merchant account and saw nearly 800 transactions.
“My heart, it sunk,” Langhofer told Ars on Thursday. He immediately contacted his payment vendor Stripe, who he told him about card testing—a scheme in which online card thieves use tiny charges from an account to test for valid cards. Stripe said it would issue a bulk refund, Langhofer said. Knowing his payment processor was aware of…
