diff --git a/src/net.cpp b/src/net.cpp
index 8b895df1a..b53787e65 100644
--- a/src/net.cpp
+++ b/src/net.cpp
@@ -963,12 +963,6 @@ static bool AttemptToEvictConnection(bool fPreferNewConnection) {
 }
 
 static void AcceptConnection(const ListenSocket& hListenSocket) {
-    // don't accept incoming connections until fully synced
-    if(fMasterNode && !masternodeSync.IsSynced()) {
-        LogPrintf("AcceptConnection -- masternode is not synced yet, skipping inbound connection attempt\n");
-        return;
-    }
-
     struct sockaddr_storage sockaddr;
     socklen_t len = sizeof(sockaddr);
     SOCKET hSocket = accept(hListenSocket.socket, (struct sockaddr*)&sockaddr, &len);
@@ -1029,6 +1023,13 @@ static void AcceptConnection(const ListenSocket& hListenSocket) {
         }
     }
 
+    // don't accept incoming connections until fully synced
+    if(fMasterNode && !masternodeSync.IsSynced()) {
+        LogPrintf("AcceptConnection -- masternode is not synced yet, skipping inbound connection attempt\n");
+        CloseSocket(hSocket);
+        return;
+    }
+
     CNode* pnode = new CNode(hSocket, addr, "", true);
     pnode->fWhitelisted = whitelisted;