diff --git a/lib/admin_actions/number_change.rb b/lib/admin_actions/number_change.rb
index 23ec6ee48acca25fd9f98cee47e23a8e01ab3379..95dcc94ceafb2bba8f636848b0296ac5e71a210f 100644
--- a/lib/admin_actions/number_change.rb
+++ b/lib/admin_actions/number_change.rb
@@ -111,9 +111,11 @@ class AdminAction
 		# If old_tel exists, it's still possible no catapult_fwd has been set.
 		# However, if one exists, we should rename it.
 		# If old_tel does not exist, it's not possible for catapult_fwd
-		# to exist, and it's not possible for there to be value.
+		# to exist, and it's not possible for there to be value
 		# to set catapult_fwd to. That's out-of-scope for this command.
 		def change_catapult_fwd!
+			return unless old_tel
+
 			REDIS.rename("catapult_fwd-#{old_tel}", "catapult_fwd-#{new_tel}")
 		end