diff --git a/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb b/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb
index 26530bff..2c746b06 100644
--- a/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb
+++ b/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ def raw_utf8_encoded
       # Strings should be UTF-8 encoded according to LDAP.
       # However, the BER code is not necessarily valid UTF-8
       begin
-        self.encode('UTF-8').force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
+        self.encode('UTF-8', invalid: :replace, undef: :replace, replace: '' ).force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
+        # self.encode('UTF-8').force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
       rescue Encoding::UndefinedConversionError
         self
       end