diff --git a/ssm/ssm2.py b/ssm/ssm2.py
index 1bbdeffa..3d5b9d2f 100644
--- a/ssm/ssm2.py
+++ b/ssm/ssm2.py
@@ -322,11 +322,24 @@ def _handle_msg(self, text):
 
     def _save_msg_to_queue(self, body, empaid):
         """Extract message contents and add to the accept or reject queue."""
-        if isinstance(body, bytes):
-            body = body.decode('ascii')
-
-        extracted_msg, signer, err_msg = self._handle_msg(body)
         try:
+            if isinstance(body, bytes):
+                try:
+                    body = body.decode('ascii')
+                except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                    err_msg = "Non-ASCII or corrupted message"
+                    log.warning("Message rejected: %s", err_msg)
+                    # Extract the message body replacing malformed data with backslashed
+                    # escape sequence (hexadecimal form of byte value with format \xhh).
+                    body = body.decode('ascii', errors='backslashreplace')
+                    name = self._rejectq.add({'body': body,
+                                            'signer': 'Not available.',
+                                            'empaid': empaid,
+                                            'error': err_msg})
+                    log.info("Message saved to reject queue as %s", name)
+                    return  # Return early to skip the rest of the method.
+
+            extracted_msg, signer, err_msg = self._handle_msg(body)
             # If the message is empty or the error message is not empty
             # then reject the message.
             if extracted_msg is None or err_msg is not None:
diff --git a/test/test_ssm.py b/test/test_ssm.py
index 5f96fd78..65b02416 100644
--- a/test/test_ssm.py
+++ b/test/test_ssm.py
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ def test_on_message(self):
         test_ssm.on_message({'empa-id': 'ping'}, 'body')
         # Check that msg with ID and no real content doesn't raise exception.
         test_ssm.on_message({'empa-id': '012345'}, 'body')
+        # Check that non-ASCII messages don't crash the receiver.
+        test_ssm.on_message({'empa-id': '543210'}, '^LagelosÄü'.encode('utf-8'))
 
     def test_init_expired_cert(self):
         """Test right exception is thrown creating an SSM with expired cert."""