diff --git a/plugins/helo b/plugins/helo
index 06bc320..134372c 100644
--- a/plugins/helo
+++ b/plugins/helo
@@ -307,7 +307,9 @@ sub is_in_badhelo {
     $host = lc $host;
     foreach my $bad ($self->qp->config('badhelo')) {
         if ($bad =~ /[\{\}\[\]\(\)\^\$\|\*\+\?\\\!]/) {    # it's a regexp
-            return $self->is_regex_match($host, $bad);
+            if ($self->is_regex_match($host, $bad)) {
+                return $error, "in badhelo";
+            }
         }
         if ($host eq lc $bad) {
             return $error, "in badhelo";
diff --git a/t/plugin_tests/helo b/t/plugin_tests/helo
index 5e6f4ca..f144ab3 100644
--- a/t/plugin_tests/helo
+++ b/t/plugin_tests/helo
@@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ sub test_invalid_localhost {
     foreach my $ip ( undef, '', '192.0.99.5' ) {
         $self->qp->connection->remote_ip(undef);
         ($err, $why) = $self->invalid_localhost('localhost' );
-        ok(!$err, "host: localhost, invalid remote ip");
+        ok($err, "host: localhost, remote ip ($ip)");
 
         $self->qp->connection->remote_ip(undef);
         ($err, $why) = $self->invalid_localhost('not-localhost');
-        ok($err, "host: not-localhost, invalid remote ip");
+        ok(! $err, "host: not-localhost, remote ip ($ip)");
     }
 
     foreach my $ip (qw/ ::1 127.0.0.1 / ) {