diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 224f637..667fdb0 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Changelog for hydra
 Release 8.4-dev
 * New command line option -y which disables -x 1aA interpretation, thanks to crondaemon for the patch
 * The protocols vnc, xmpp, telnet, imap, nntp and pcanywhere got accidentially long sleep commands due a patch in 8.2, fixed
+* Added special error message for clueless users :)
 
 
 Release 8.3
diff --git a/hydra.c b/hydra.c
index a90a1f6..712df43 100644
--- a/hydra.c
+++ b/hydra.c
@@ -2584,6 +2584,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
           help(0);
       }
     } else {
+      if (strstr(argv[optind], "://") != NULL) {
+        printf("[ERROR] Invalid target definition!\n");
+        printf("[ERROR] Either you use \"www.example.com module [optional-module-parameters]\" *or* you use the \"module://www.example.com/optional-module-parameters\" syntax!\n");
+        exit(-1);
+      }
       hydra_options.server = argv[optind];
       cmdlinetarget = argv[optind];
       hydra_options.service = argv[optind + 1];