diff --git a/src/main/java/helpers/ScryptHelper.java b/src/main/java/helpers/ScryptHelper.java
index 8cb74a9..8471f5b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/helpers/ScryptHelper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/helpers/ScryptHelper.java
@@ -3,14 +3,13 @@
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.CharBuffer;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.security.MessageDigest;
 import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
 import java.security.SecureRandom;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Base64;
-import java.util.regex.Matcher;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import org.bouncycastle.crypto.generators.SCrypt;
 
 /**
@@ -174,10 +173,18 @@
 	 */
 	private static byte[] toBytes(CharSequence chars) {
 		CharBuffer charBuffer = CharBuffer.wrap(chars);
-		ByteBuffer byteBuffer = utf8.encode(charBuffer);
-		byte[] bytes = Arrays.copyOfRange(byteBuffer.array(), byteBuffer.position(), byteBuffer.limit());
+		ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(charBuffer.remaining() * 3); // 3 bytes per char UTF-8
+
+		CharsetEncoder encoder = utf8.newEncoder();
+		encoder.encode(charBuffer, byteBuffer, true);
+		encoder.flush(byteBuffer);
+
+		byteBuffer.flip();
+		byte[] result = new byte[byteBuffer.remaining()];
+		byteBuffer.get(result);
+
 		Arrays.fill(byteBuffer.array(), (byte) 0);
-		return bytes;
+		return result;
 	}
 
 }