diff --git a/src/sbbs3/sbbsecho.c b/src/sbbs3/sbbsecho.c
index cd4167d28fb73c020208d4111bfefaba75f802ce..04531c2685c319d712f2c177200769d6f00cbb76 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/sbbsecho.c
+++ b/src/sbbs3/sbbsecho.c
@@ -3595,6 +3595,8 @@ bool getzpt(FILE* stream, fmsghdr_t* hdr)
 	bool intl_found = false;
 
 	pos=ftello(stream);
+	if(pos < 0)
+		return false;
 	len=fread(buf,1,0x1000,stream);
 	for(i=0;i<len;i++) {
 		if(buf[i]=='\n')	/* ignore line-feeds */