diff --git a/sendGFWList.sh b/sendGFWList.sh
index 018d3e8..4f140eb 100755
--- a/sendGFWList.sh
+++ b/sendGFWList.sh
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ if [ "$*" == "" ]; then
   exit 1;
 fi
 
+# make sure the list doesn't contain unicode chars
+file list.txt | grep ASCII 1> /dev/null || (echo "List contains non-ASCII characters, please remove them." && exit 1) &&
+
 # update date and checksum
 sed -i s/"Last Modified:.*$"/"Last Modified:  $(date -R -r list.txt)"/ list.txt &&
 ./addChecksum.pl list.txt &&