diff --git a/helpers.py b/helpers.py
index e1d7263..0fc3437 100644
--- a/helpers.py
+++ b/helpers.py
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ def system_user_exists(username):
 		pwd.getpwnam(username)
 	except KeyError:
 		return False
+	except UnicodeEncodeError:
+		return False
 	else:
 		return True