Federal authorities, tech pundits, and news outlets want you to be on the lookout for a scary cyberattack that can hack your phone when you do nothing more than plug it into a public charging station. These warnings of “juice jacking,” as the threat has come to be known, have been circulating for more than a decade.

Earlier this month, though, juice jacking fears hit a new high when the FBI and Federal Communications Commission issued new, baseless warnings that generated ominous-sounding news reports from hundreds of outlets. NPR reported that the crime is “becoming more prevalent, possibly due to the increase in travel.” The Washington Post said it’s a “significant privacy hazard” that can identify loaded webpages in less than 10 seconds. CNN warned that just by plugging into a malicious charger, “your device is now infected.” And a Fortune headline admonished readers: “Don’t let a free USB charge drain your bank account.” …

Contrary to the government communications, the vast majority of cybersecurity experts do not warn that juice jacking is a threat unless you’re a target of nation-state hackers. There are no documented cases of juice jacking ever taking place in the wild. Left out of the advisories is that modern iPhones and Android devices require users to click through an explicit warning before they can exchange files with a device connected by standard cables.

[Every day, there’s a new Chicken Little advisory. I thought this one was pretty weird, too. — Ed]