diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/commands.py b/mautrix_telegram/commands.py
index 691692b1..2046f3e4 100644
--- a/mautrix_telegram/commands.py
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/commands.py
@@ -235,6 +235,12 @@ class CommandHandler:
 
         results, remote = await evt.sender.search(query, force_remote)
 
+        if not results:
+            if len(query) < 5 and remote:
+                return await evt.reply("No local results. "
+                                       "Minimum length of remote query is 5 characters.")
+            return await evt.reply("No results 3:")
+
         reply = []
         if remote:
             reply += ["**Results from Telegram server:**", ""]
diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/user.py b/mautrix_telegram/user.py
index dc83bdd7..ec0dd468 100644
--- a/mautrix_telegram/user.py
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/user.py
@@ -170,6 +170,8 @@ class User:
         return results[0:max_results]
 
     async def _search_remote(self, query, max_results=5):
+        if len(query) < 5:
+            return []
         server_results = await self.client(SearchRequest(q=query, limit=max_results))
         results = []
         for user in server_results.users: