diff --git a/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb b/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb
index d52d787e..c98c4395 100644
--- a/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb
+++ b/lib/net/ber/core_ext/string.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ def raw_utf8_encoded
     if self.respond_to?(:encode)
       # Strings should be UTF-8 encoded according to LDAP.
       # However, the BER code is not necessarily valid UTF-8
-      self.encode('UTF-8').force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
+      #self.encode('UTF-8').force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
+			self.encode('UTF-8', invalid: :replace, undef: :replace, replace: '' ).force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
     else
       self
     end