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The latest freak out about electronic cigarettes appears to be a slightly legitimate one — computer viruses. According to various sources (any of which could be bunk), some electronic cigarette USB chargers have been found to have computer viruses hard-coded into them to infect any system they’re attached to.

How big a deal this might be has yet to be seen. This source, for instance, reports that the Guardian news site reports that a Reddit user claimed to know someone hit by a computer virus this in this way. It looks like all the up roar came from little more than this single post.

It’s certainly likely, and it wouldn’t be the first time a USB device from a cut-rate foreign supplier carried a nasty computer virus with it.

While this could certainly be a concern for some, it could be a good thing for many. Use of cut-rate USB chargers — primarily from Chinese suppliers — has been linked to countless house fires around the world. These chargers regularly overheat or overcharge e-cig batteries causing them to catch fire or even explode. This has happened with car, wall outlet, and computer chargers.

Either way, we’ll keep an eye out and see if this really is something to be concerned about. If you are anyway, simply stick to wall outlet chargers for now.