diff --git a/src/libply/ply-utils.c b/src/libply/ply-utils.c
index 95b505b1..a71d8de8 100644
--- a/src/libply/ply-utils.c
+++ b/src/libply/ply-utils.c
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ ply_file_exists (const char *file)
 {
         struct stat file_info;
 
-        if (stat (file, &file_info) < 0)
+        if (lstat (file, &file_info) < 0)
                 return false;
 
         return S_ISREG (file_info.st_mode);
diff --git a/src/plugins/controls/label-freetype/plugin.c b/src/plugins/controls/label-freetype/plugin.c
index 403541f4..17cb134e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/controls/label-freetype/plugin.c
+++ b/src/plugins/controls/label-freetype/plugin.c
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ set_font_with_fallback (ply_label_plugin_control_t *label,
         if (fallback_font_path != NULL && error != 0) {
                 ply_trace ("Could not load font '%s', trying fallback font '%s' (error %d)",
                            primary_font_path?: "(unset)", fallback_font_path, (int) error);
+
+                if (!ply_file_exists (fallback_font_path)) {
+                        ply_trace ("Fallback font '%s' does not exist!", fallback_font_path);
+                        return error;
+                }
                 error = FT_New_Face (label->library, fallback_font_path, 0, &label->face);
         }
 
@@ -775,6 +780,8 @@ set_font_for_control (ply_label_plugin_control_t *label,
         if (error) {
                 FT_Done_Face (label->face);
                 label->face = NULL;
+
+                ply_trace ("Could not load font, error %d", error);
                 return;
         }