Cancer Survivor and ID Theft Victim Blazes New Path; Dateline NBC Features His Story26 December 2005
Eric Drew is a survivor, a crime victim and a business innovator -- all rolled into one. He is also a tenacious fighter whose relentless pursuit of the criminal that stole his identity led to the first conviction under our nation's new HIPPA laws.
The story of Drew, 38, was featured Christmas night on the popular television news magazine, Dateline NBC.
Drew is a survivor of "terminal" leukemia and two years ago became a nationally recognized victim of identity (ID) theft after his personal information was stolen and used for financial fraud by a medical worker associated with his treatment. Eric's fight to take back his life from this ID thief -- who was caught and became the first person convicted under new federal patient privacy laws, HIPAA -- was a prime catalyst in the formation of KnightsBridge Castle, an ID theft protection services firm.
KnightsBridge, a Silicon Valley start-up, provides technology-enabled services designed specially to help consumers prevent and detect ID theft and, when necessary, recovery from such crimes. ID theft crimes range from credit card theft to professional license hijacking to bank fraud to falsified firearm resale certificates and numerous other uses of illegally obtained personal information. KnightsBridge has a growing community of charter test customers now piloting the company's ID theft technology-enabled services.
ID theft is a crime in which an imposter illicitly obtains key pieces of personal information, such as Social Security and driver's license numbers, and uses them for his own personal gain at the expense of the victim. The problem of ID theft is growing enormously partly because of access to ubiquitous information on the Internet. Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in America, according to federal and state police authorities, with 10 million incidents reported in 2004.
An avid speaker, Drew regularly addresses groups and organizations and presents at identity theft, legal and medical conferences with the goal of raising consumer awareness of the many threats of ID theft and how people can protect themselves from this rapidly growing crime.
Before helping co-found KnightsBridge in 2005, Drew lived and worked in various countries in Europe and Asia. He has held executive-level positions at several Silicon Valley global software and banking firms, including GlobalSight Inc., Whole Globe.com and ITC International. An eclectic at heart, Drew is also a former high school quarterback, runway model and beauty pageant producer.
While he continues to recover from a stem cell transplant, Drew divides his time between being executive vice president of KnightsBridge Castle and director of the Eric Drew Foundation, a non-profit organization he founded to promote advocacy for terminally ill patients.
For more information on ID theft, Eric Drew's story or KnightsBridge Castle, please visit www.msnbc.com, www.drewfoundation.org or www.knightsbridgecastle.com.
ABOUT KNIGHTSBRIDGE CASTLE
KnightsBridge Castle is a Woodside, Calif., based ID theft specialty firm dedicated to helping consumers protect themselves from the full range of ID theft crimes. Founded in February 2005, the company has assembled a team of seasoned executives, consumer rights experts and academic criminologists who are developing a comprehensive suite of technology-enabled services designed specifically to help consumers proactively protect, detect and recover from ID theft. For more information, visit www.knightsbridgecastle.com.
Source: marketwire
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