diff --git a/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/BaseAbilityBot.java b/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/BaseAbilityBot.java
index 8e3b8365..c9979ae9 100644
--- a/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/BaseAbilityBot.java
+++ b/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/BaseAbilityBot.java
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ public abstract class BaseAbilityBot extends DefaultAbsSender implements Ability
                 .filter(this::checkBlacklist)
                 .map(this::addUser)
                 .filter(this::filterReply)
+                .filter(this::hasUser)
                 .map(this::getAbility)
                 .filter(this::validateAbility)
                 .filter(this::checkPrivacy)
@@ -487,6 +488,12 @@ public abstract class BaseAbilityBot extends DefaultAbsSender implements Ability
         return update;
     }
 
+    private boolean hasUser(Update update) {
+        // Valid updates without users should return an empty user
+        // Updates that are not recognized by the getUser method will throw an exception
+        return !AbilityUtils.getUser(update).equals(EMPTY_USER);
+    }
+
     private void updateUserId(User oldUser, User newUser) {
         if (oldUser != null && oldUser.getUserName() != null) {
             // Remove old username -> ID
diff --git a/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/util/AbilityUtils.java b/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/util/AbilityUtils.java
index 241bf141..f5817bb4 100644
--- a/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/util/AbilityUtils.java
+++ b/telegrambots-abilities/src/main/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/util/AbilityUtils.java
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.objects.Flag.*;
  * Helper and utility methods
  */
 public final class AbilityUtils {
-  public static User EMPTY_USER = new User();
+  public static User EMPTY_USER = new User(0, "", false, "", "", "");
 
   private AbilityUtils() {
 
diff --git a/telegrambots-abilities/src/test/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/AbilityBotTest.java b/telegrambots-abilities/src/test/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/AbilityBotTest.java
index 36717ac0..23bb280b 100644
--- a/telegrambots-abilities/src/test/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/AbilityBotTest.java
+++ b/telegrambots-abilities/src/test/java/org/telegram/abilitybots/api/bot/AbilityBotTest.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.db.DBContext;
 import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.objects.*;
 import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.sender.MessageSender;
 import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.sender.SilentSender;
+import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.util.AbilityUtils;
 import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.util.Pair;
 import org.telegram.abilitybots.api.util.Trio;
 import org.telegram.telegrambots.meta.api.methods.groupadministration.GetChatAdministrators;
@@ -38,8 +39,8 @@ import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 import static org.mockito.internal.verification.VerificationModeFactory.times;
 import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.bot.DefaultBot.getDefaultBuilder;
-import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.bot.TestUtils.*;
 import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.bot.TestUtils.CREATOR;
+import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.bot.TestUtils.*;
 import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.db.MapDBContext.offlineInstance;
 import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.objects.Flag.DOCUMENT;
 import static org.telegram.abilitybots.api.objects.Flag.MESSAGE;
@@ -120,6 +121,39 @@ public class AbilityBotTest {
     verify(silent, times(1)).send("reply", USER.getId());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void canProcessUpdatesWithoutUserInfo() {
+    Update update = mock(Update.class);
+    // At the moment, only poll updates carry no user information
+    when(update.hasPoll()).thenReturn(true);
+
+    bot.onUpdateReceived(update);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getUserHasAllMethodsDefined() {
+    Arrays.stream(Update.class.getMethods())
+        // filter to all these methods of hasXXX (hasPoll, hasMessage, etc...)
+        .filter(method -> method.getName().startsWith("has"))
+        // Gotta filter out hashCode
+        .filter(method -> method.getReturnType().getName().equals("boolean"))
+        .forEach(method -> {
+          Update update = mock(Update.class);
+          try {
+            // Mock the method and make sure it returns true so that it gets processed by the following method
+            when(method.invoke(update)).thenReturn(true);
+            // Call the getUser function, throws an IllegalStateException if there's an update that can't be processed
+            AbilityUtils.getUser(update);
+          } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(
+                format("Found an update variation that is not handled by the getUser util method [%s]", method.getName()), e);
+          } catch (NullPointerException | ReflectiveOperationException e) {
+            // This is fine, the mock isn't complete and we're only
+            // looking for IllegalStateExceptions thrown by the method
+          }
+        });
+  }
+
   @Test
   void canBackupDB() throws TelegramApiException {
     MessageContext context = defaultContext();