diff --git a/es-core/src/HttpReq.cpp b/es-core/src/HttpReq.cpp
index bd82b7263..9b6fb043e 100644
--- a/es-core/src/HttpReq.cpp
+++ b/es-core/src/HttpReq.cpp
@@ -194,6 +194,14 @@ HttpReq::HttpReq(const std::string& url, bool scraperRequest)
         return;
     }
 
+    // Fail on HTTP status codes >= 400.
+    err = curl_easy_setopt(mHandle, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, 1L);
+    if (err != CURLE_OK) {
+        mStatus = REQ_IO_ERROR;
+        onError(curl_easy_strerror(err));
+        return;
+    }
+
     // Add the handle to our multi.
     CURLMcode merr {curl_multi_add_handle(sMultiHandle, mHandle)};
     if (merr != CURLM_OK) {
@@ -250,6 +258,12 @@ HttpReq::Status HttpReq::status()
                     req->mStatus = REQ_FAILED_VERIFICATION;
                     req->onError(curl_easy_strerror(msg->data.result));
                 }
+                else if (msg->data.result == CURLE_HTTP_RETURNED_ERROR) {
+                    req->mStatus = REQ_BAD_STATUS_CODE;
+                    long responseCode;
+                    curl_easy_getinfo(msg->easy_handle, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE, &responseCode);
+                    req->onError("Server returned HTTP error code " + std::to_string(responseCode));
+                }
                 else {
                     req->mStatus = REQ_IO_ERROR;
                     req->onError(curl_easy_strerror(msg->data.result));