diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5c235cb34e..d020f7bedd 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
     "bower": "1.2.7",
     "nib": "~1.0.1",
     "jade": "~0.35.0",
-    "validator": "~1.5.1",
+    "validator": "~3.11.2",
     "nodemailer": "~0.5.2",
     "grunt-cli": "~0.1.9",
     "express-csv": "~0.6.0",
diff --git a/src/controllers/auth.js b/src/controllers/auth.js
index d831856eeb..1cde8de72d 100644
--- a/src/controllers/auth.js
+++ b/src/controllers/auth.js
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 var _ = require('lodash');
 var validator = require('validator');
-var check = validator.check;
-var sanitize = validator.sanitize;
 var passport = require('passport');
 var shared = require('habitrpg-shared');
 var async = require('async');
@@ -61,10 +59,8 @@ api.registerUser = function(req, res, next) {
   if (password !== confirmPassword) {
     return res.json(401, {err: ":password and :confirmPassword don't match"});
   }
-  try {
-    validator.check(email).isEmail();
-  } catch (err) {
-    return res.json(401, {err: err.message});
+  if (!validator.isEmail(email)) {
+    return res.json(401, {err: ":email invalid"});
   }
   async.waterfall([
     function(cb) {
diff --git a/src/controllers/user.js b/src/controllers/user.js
index 5315ea4be3..9da8533c9a 100644
--- a/src/controllers/user.js
+++ b/src/controllers/user.js
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ var _ = require('lodash');
 var nconf = require('nconf');
 var async = require('async');
 var shared = require('habitrpg-shared');
-var validator = require('validator');
-var check = validator.check;
-var sanitize = validator.sanitize;
 var User = require('./../models/user').model;
 var ga = require('./../utils').ga;
 var Group = require('./../models/group').model;