Texas is one of the worst states in the nation for consumer fraud, according to a report from the Consumer Federation of America.

Texans lose almost $10 billion annually, mainly to online scams. The federation's director of artificial intelligence and privacy, Ben Winters, said most online scams happen on three platforms.

"Better Business Bureau cites Facebook as a source of 57% of social media scams, with Instagram comprising 22% and WhatsApp [at] 8%," he said. "All three of those platforms are owned by the same company."

The report cited population increase, a large elderly population and rural communities without access to support services as reasons for the increase in online scam victims in Texas.

Nationwide, it’s estimated Americans will lose $119 billion to online scams and fraud.

Kelsey Souter, a pollster with Upswing Research, said Americans say they want platforms to be held accountable and for the government to be more involved in intervention.

"Seventy-nine-percent of Americans, according to Pew, say that online scams and attacks are a major problem for Americans," she said, "and that ranks right in there with all of these other tech harms like targeting kids – addictive features – so again, very strong numbers showing support for action on scams."

The report also shows that a third of Americans feel less confident spotting scams today than they did a year ago.

Legislation such as the Scam Act and the My SAFE Platforms Act have been introduced to Congress this session to address online concerns.

Source: Public News Service