diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier.ex
index ff031a16e..3bb8b40b5 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier.ex
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.ActivityPub.Transmogrifier do
   def fix_type(%{"inReplyTo" => reply_id} = object) when is_binary(reply_id) do
     reply = Object.normalize(reply_id)
 
-    if reply.data["type"] == "Question" and object["name"] do
+    if reply && (reply.data["type"] == "Question" and object["name"]) do
       Map.put(object, "type", "Answer")
     else
       object
diff --git a/test/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier_test.exs b/test/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier_test.exs
index 28971ae45..26e8d60fe 100644
--- a/test/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier_test.exs
+++ b/test/web/activity_pub/transmogrifier_test.exs
@@ -60,6 +60,22 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.ActivityPub.TransmogrifierTest do
       assert returned_object.data["inReplyToAtomUri"] == "https://shitposter.club/notice/2827873"
     end
 
+    test "it does not crash if the object in inReplyTo can't be fetched" do
+      data =
+        File.read!("test/fixtures/mastodon-post-activity.json")
+        |> Poison.decode!()
+
+      object =
+        data["object"]
+        |> Map.put("inReplyTo", "https://nonexistent.space/whatever")
+
+      data =
+        data
+        |> Map.put("object", object)
+
+      {:ok, _returned_activity} = Transmogrifier.handle_incoming(data)
+    end
+
     test "it works for incoming notices" do
       data = File.read!("test/fixtures/mastodon-post-activity.json") |> Poison.decode!()