diff --git a/public/language/en-GB/error.json b/public/language/en-GB/error.json
index 71c045efc3..7700006520 100644
--- a/public/language/en-GB/error.json
+++ b/public/language/en-GB/error.json
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 	"invalid-login-credentials": "Invalid login credentials",
 	"invalid-username-or-password": "Please specify both a username and password",
 	"invalid-search-term": "Invalid search term",
+	"invalid-url": "Invalid URL",
 	"csrf-invalid": "We were unable to log you in, likely due to an expired session. Please try again",
 
 	"invalid-pagination-value": "Invalid pagination value, must be at least %1 and at most %2",
diff --git a/src/user/picture.js b/src/user/picture.js
index 60991aa39c..271bed47fc 100644
--- a/src/user/picture.js
+++ b/src/user/picture.js
@@ -23,7 +23,12 @@ module.exports = function (User) {
 
 		async.waterfall([
 			function (next) {
-				request.head(url, next);
+				request.head(url, function (err, res, body) {
+					if (err) {
+						return setTimeout(next.bind(null, new Error('[[error:invalid-url]]')), err.message === 'Parse Error' ? 1000 : 0);
+					}
+					next(null, res, body);
+				});
 			},
 			function (res, body, next) {
 				var uploadSize = parseInt(meta.config.maximumProfileImageSize, 10) || 256;
diff --git a/test/user.js b/test/user.js
index c3ce6957aa..528774979a 100644
--- a/test/user.js
+++ b/test/user.js
@@ -849,6 +849,20 @@ describe('User', function () {
 			});
 		});
 
+		it('should return error if url is invalid when uploading from url', function (done) {
+			function filterMethod(data, callback) {
+				callback(null, data);
+			}
+
+			plugins.registerHook('test-plugin', { hook: 'filter:uploadImage', method: filterMethod });
+
+			User.uploadFromUrl(uid, 'http://scanme.nmap.org:2234/index.html', function (err) {
+				assert.equal(err.message, '[[error:invalid-url]]');
+				done();
+			});
+		});
+
+
 		it('should return error if the file is too big when uploading from url', function (done) {
 			var url = nconf.get('url') + '/assets/logo.png';
 			meta.config.maximumProfileImageSize = 1;