diff --git a/lib/customer.rb b/lib/customer.rb
index ea288d82d52cb503448d60b056a8c0620c29e8a5..3cbf65e5334bad1734e1be3568c8f638c32c1359 100644
--- a/lib/customer.rb
+++ b/lib/customer.rb
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ class Customer
 	end
 
 	def fetch_pep(node, from_tel=nil)
+		from_tel = nil unless from_tel.to_s.start_with?("+")
 		iq = Blather::Stanza::PubSub::Items.new(:get)
 		iq.node = node
 		iq.from = Blather::JID.new(from_tel, CONFIG[:component][:jid])