Instagram, the popular mobile photo application, has been gaining a lot of press recently after it was purchased by Facebook last week for $1 billion. Unfortunately, digital scammers often take advantage of such hype, and Instagram is no exception.

According to security firm, Sophos, a Russian version of the app was released for download, but contained malware that can affect your smartphone or tablet computer.

"If you download your app from this site, rather than an official Android marketplace such as Google Play, then you are running the risk of infecting your smartphone," wrote Graham Cluley, Sopho's senior technology consultant, in a post on the company's blog. "In our tests, the app didn't do a very good job of emulating the genuine Instagram app, but that may be because it failed to find the correct network operator. Because this is a malicious app that seems to be relying in the sending of background SMS messages to earn its creators revenue."

Cluley added that the malware detected was a trojan virus known as Andr/Boxer-F.

While Instagram has been available for the Apple iPhone and iPad for some time, it only recently developed an app for the Android operating system.

Scams like these are becoming more and more popular with mobile applications, so it is very important that consumers purchase mobile apps only from safe and established platforms, such as Apple's App Store or Google Play. While purchasing apps from a foreign or smaller site may be advertised as cheaper and faster, it's better to be safe than sorry. If you are concerned that your tablet or laptop needs virus removal or Trojan virus removal, contact a laptop repair center near you.