MAM
Weekend Unwind with Thriwe’s Dhruv Verma
Mumbai: With another weekend upon us, it is time to unwind with the latest Q&A edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind – a series of informal chats that peek into the minds of business executives through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.
In this week’s session, we have Thriwe founder and CEO Dhruv Verma.
Thriwe is a one-stop solution for loyalty programs & benefits globally. A serial entrepreneur, Dhruv has had an impressive and varied career, one that has spanned more than 19 years. He took his first entrepreneurial plunge with Golflan in 2011 and launched Thriwe in 2018- 2019. His career has been characterised by adaptability, from overseeing sales management at ICICI to fostering employee growth at Standard Chartered Bank. At CPP Global, he has demonstrated his skill in start-up management and growth methods.
Without further ado here it goes…
Your mantra for life
It’s not done, till it is done.. hence keep moving forward.
A book you are currently reading or plan to read
Autobiography of a Yogi.
Your fitness mantra
Walk as much as you can.
Your comfort food
Lebanese.
A quote or philosophy that keeps you going when the chips are down
Every high will be followed by a low & every low will be followed by a high.
Your guilty pleasure
Oreo cheesecake from Cheesecake factory.
The last time you tried something new
I try new things almost every week.
A life lesson you learned the hard way
The biggest risk in life is not taking any risk at all.
What gets you excited about life?
Change!
What’s on top of your bucket list?
Shark diving.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Don’t be careless.
One thing you would most like to change about the world
Hunger for money.
An activity that keeps you motivated and charged during tough times
Travel.
What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?
Think about how kind god has been towards me.
Your go-to stress buster?
Playing Golf.
MAM
Deepfakes target women in 93 per cent of cases, report finds
Pi-labs study shows 900 per cent rise in female-focused synthetic media; India sees 60 per cent jump in cybercrime complaints.
MUMBAI: Deepfakes aren’t just fooling cameras, they’re hitting women hardest, turning pixels into a new kind of weapon. A new report from creator intelligence platform Pi-labs has revealed that nearly 93 per cent of deepfake victims are women, with deepfake content targeting females surging 900% in recent years. The findings paint synthetic media as a fast-escalating digital threat with a stark gendered impact.
In India, cybercrime complaints involving women rose from about 50,000 in 2024 to nearly 80,000 by 2026, an increase of roughly 60 per cent in just two years. Almost 98 per cent of deepfake pornography is aimed at women, often powered by face-swapping apps and bot networks that disproportionately target females, including school-age girls. Victims typically fall in the 18–30 age group, with Bengaluru reporting a growing share of cases.
Globally, 62 per cent of deepfake abuse cases involving women go unreported due to stigma, in India, over one-third of women facing online harassment take no action, and many reduce their digital presence after abuse. Close to 33 per cent of women remain unaware of protective laws.
City-level trends show Bengaluru leading with nearly 30 per cent of complaints, followed by Hyderabad (14 per cent), Mumbai (13 per cent), Chennai and Kolkata (5 per cent each), and Delhi (3 per cent).
Pi-labs, CEO and founder Anukush Tiwari said, “AI is one of the most powerful technologies of our time, but like every powerful tool, it reflects the intent of those who use it. We are witnessing a growing trust deficit in digital spaces, where identity can be manipulated within minutes and reputations can be damaged overnight.”
Image morphing and deepfake videos remain the most common forms of misuse. The report also notes a new trend: fully AI-generated female personas (not based on real individuals) gaining high engagement on social platforms, raising questions about digital credibility.
Detection remains challenging due to widespread generative tools and rogue creators. Industry estimates suggest over 5,000 face-swap tools and more than 1,000 voice-cloning applications are accessible online.
pi-labs offers pi-authentify, an AI-driven detection system that scans media for generative markers and provides authenticity scores, as well as Namokavach, a verification portal delivering confidential assessments within two working days. The Payal gaming case was resolved using pi-authentify’s forensic analysis.
The report urges minimising digital footprints and adopting detection tools to limit replication risks. It frames the gendered impact of synthetic media as an urgent digital safety issue requiring coordinated action from individuals, platforms and technology providers.
In a world where faces can be borrowed in seconds, the real crime isn’t just creation, it’s the silence that follows, and women are paying the heaviest price.
