The number of cases of online sex exploitation, including of children, appeared to skyrocket last year as people spent more time on computers.

Predators worldwide took advantage of pandemic restrictions last year to draw more people into forced labor and sex trafficking, including children who spent their days online under government-imposed stay-at-home orders, according to a new State Department report.

In India and Nepal, young girls were sold into marriage to help families that otherwise had no income because they could not leave home to work or sell their crops.

In Persian Gulf countries, migrants who had no choice but to live at their workplaces were increasingly prohibited from taking time off.

In the United States, tenants who could not afford to pay rent were pressured into having sex with their landlords.

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