An unbelievably scary story was shared last week in an online community for tech support professionals. It's about a company with malicious malware the IT office could not source! It jumped every known virus fighter and had all the geeks stumped. Until they asked, "Have there been any changes in your life recently?"

Why yes, I quit smoking and started vaping, he said. What kind of e-cigarette? A $5 one off eBay charged via a USB device.

THE USB CHARGER WAS SPREADING MALWARE FROM CHINA!!!!!!!!

There are urban legends about cheap flash drives installing spyware. There's even a famous story about the CIA getting hacked with flash drives dropped in the parking lot (frugal analysts would see the flash drives on the ground, assume they were dropped by accident and think, "Finders, Keepers," sending their info to Russia).

In the online community, many other tech professionals thanked the poster for their story and then recommended every company forbidding the charging of devices via USB ports. Offices should only allow plug-in chargers. All kinds of malware are shared via USB chargers.

More From 98.3 KEYW