diff --git a/contrib/epee/include/serialization/keyvalue_helpers.h b/contrib/epee/include/serialization/keyvalue_helpers.h
index 9d0f1d74..0cf99221 100644
--- a/contrib/epee/include/serialization/keyvalue_helpers.h
+++ b/contrib/epee/include/serialization/keyvalue_helpers.h
@@ -61,8 +61,10 @@ namespace epee
 	t_pod_type transform_str_to_t_pod(const std::string& a)
 	{
 		t_pod_type res = AUTO_VAL_INIT(res);
-		epee::string_tools::hex_to_pod(a, res);
+    if (!epee::string_tools::hex_to_pod(a, res))
+      throw std::runtime_error(std::string("Unable to transform \"") + a + "\" to pod type " + typeid(t_pod_type).name());
 		return res;
+    CHECK_AND_ASSERT_THROW_MES
 	}
 
   //basic helpers for blob-to-hex serialization