Human traffickers are capitalising on the coronavirus pandemic to target people ranging from jobless migrants to out-of-school children, two United Nations specialists said, warning that the fallout from COVID-19 had driven the crime further underground. The global economic slowdown has left countless people jobless, desperate and at risk of exploitation, while victims of trafficking are less likely to be found or receive help with attention and resources diverted elsewhere, the experts said. "More people are at risk especially in the informal economy there are opportunities for traffickers to recruit, to exploit, to prey on people's desperation," Mullally told the Thomson Reuters Foundation ahead of Anti-Slavery Day on Oct. 18. About 2.5 billion people - more than 60% of the world's workforce - are informal workers, leaving them particularly at risk of being underpaid and abused, labour advocates have said. From India to Cambodia, workers in sectors such as textiles and tourism have lost their livelihoods due to COVID-19 and resorted to taking out loans that can lead to debt bondage or accepting work on worse terms and in exploitative conditions.