diff --git a/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/captcha/CaptchaChecker.java b/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/captcha/CaptchaChecker.java
index 954f3dd7e..974a919fe 100644
--- a/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/captcha/CaptchaChecker.java
+++ b/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/captcha/CaptchaChecker.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ public class CaptchaChecker {
     final Action parsedAction = Action.parse(action)
         .orElseThrow(() -> {
           Metrics.counter(INVALID_ACTION_COUNTER_NAME, "action", action).increment();
-          throw new BadRequestException("invalid captcha action");
+          return new BadRequestException("invalid captcha action");
         });
 
     if (!parsedAction.equals(expectedAction)) {