diff --git a/lib/paymentrequest.py b/lib/paymentrequest.py
index bf0a8322..9990d618 100644
--- a/lib/paymentrequest.py
+++ b/lib/paymentrequest.py
@@ -117,7 +117,11 @@ class PaymentRequest:
             self.error = "Empty request"
             return
         pr = pb2.PaymentRequest()
-        pr.ParseFromString(self.raw)
+        try:
+            pr.ParseFromString(self.raw)
+        except:
+            self.error = "Error: Cannot parse payment request"
+            return
         if not pr.signature:
             # the address will be dispayed as requestor
             self.requestor = None