diff --git a/config/action.d/mail-whois-common.conf b/config/action.d/mail-whois-common.conf
index 178081e4..1da54286 100644
--- a/config/action.d/mail-whois-common.conf
+++ b/config/action.d/mail-whois-common.conf
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ _whois = whois <ip> || echo "missing whois program"
 # character set before sending it to a mail program
 _whois_target_charset = UTF-8
 _whois_convert_charset = whois <ip> |
-                         { c=$(cat) ; cs=$(echo -ne "$c" | file -b --mime-encoding -) ; echo -ne "$c" | iconv -f $cs -t %(_whois_target_charset)s//TRANSLIT - ; }
+                         { c=$(cat) ; cs=$(printf %%b "$c" | file -b --mime-encoding -) ; printf %%b "$c" | iconv -f $cs -t %(_whois_target_charset)s//TRANSLIT - ; }
 
 # choose between _whois and _whois_convert_charset in mail-whois-common.local
 # or other *.local which include mail-whois-common.conf.