diff --git a/app/lib/user_segments.rb b/app/lib/user_segments.rb
index 55fab74be..79af67ed1 100644
--- a/app/lib/user_segments.rb
+++ b/app/lib/user_segments.rb
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class UserSegments
   def self.recipients(segment)
     if geozones[segment.to_s]
       all_users.where(geozone: geozones[segment.to_s])
-    else
+    elsif valid_segment?(segment)
       send(segment)
     end
   end
diff --git a/app/models/admin_notification.rb b/app/models/admin_notification.rb
index b2357c22d..abf5bd12c 100644
--- a/app/models/admin_notification.rb
+++ b/app/models/admin_notification.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ class AdminNotification < ApplicationRecord
   before_validation :complete_link_url
 
   def list_of_recipients
-    UserSegments.recipients(segment_recipient) if valid_segment_recipient?
+    UserSegments.recipients(segment_recipient)
   end
 
   def valid_segment_recipient?
diff --git a/spec/lib/user_segments_spec.rb b/spec/lib/user_segments_spec.rb
index 79b6d176f..90ec6d621 100644
--- a/spec/lib/user_segments_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/user_segments_spec.rb
@@ -301,6 +301,24 @@ describe UserSegments do
     end
   end
 
+  describe ".recipients" do
+    it "does not return any recipients when given an invalid segment" do
+      create(:user, email: "first@email.com")
+
+      recipients = UserSegments.recipients(:invalid_segment)
+
+      expect(recipients).to be nil
+    end
+
+    it "does not return any recipients when given a method name as a segment" do
+      create(:user, email: "first@email.com")
+
+      recipients = UserSegments.recipients(:ancestors)
+
+      expect(recipients).to be nil
+    end
+  end
+
   describe ".user_segment_emails" do
     it "returns list of emails sorted by user creation date" do
       create(:user, email: "first@email.com", created_at: 1.day.ago)