diff --git a/app/models/mail_handler.rb b/app/models/mail_handler.rb
index fb30374bd..864609ce0 100644
--- a/app/models/mail_handler.rb
+++ b/app/models/mail_handler.rb
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class MailHandler < ActionMailer::Base
     @@handler_options = options.dup
 
     @@handler_options[:issue] ||= {}
+    @@handler_options[:issue].symbolize_keys!
 
     if @@handler_options[:allow_override].is_a?(String)
       @@handler_options[:allow_override] = @@handler_options[:allow_override].split(',').collect(&:strip)
@@ -333,6 +334,13 @@ class MailHandler < ActionMailer::Base
     # * parse the email To field
     # * specific project (eg. Setting.mail_handler_target_project)
     target = Project.find_by_identifier(get_keyword(:project))
+    if target.nil?
+      # Invalid project keyword, use the project specified as the default one
+      default_project = @@handler_options[:issue][:project]
+      if default_project.present?
+        target = Project.find_by_identifier(default_project)
+      end
+    end
     raise MissingInformation.new('Unable to determine target project') if target.nil?
     target
   end
diff --git a/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb b/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb
index 013da992e..3244d8cd2 100644
--- a/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb
@@ -370,6 +370,15 @@ class MailHandlerTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert issue.description.include?('Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.')
   end
 
+  def test_add_issue_with_invalid_project_should_be_assigned_to_default_project
+    issue = submit_email('ticket_on_given_project.eml', :issue => {:project => 'ecookbook'}, :allow_override => 'project') do |email|
+      email.gsub!(/^Project:.+$/, 'Project: invalid')
+    end
+    assert issue.is_a?(Issue)
+    assert !issue.new_record?
+    assert_equal 'ecookbook', issue.project.identifier
+  end
+
   def test_add_issue_with_localized_attributes
     User.find_by_mail('jsmith@somenet.foo').update_attribute 'language', 'fr'
     issue = submit_email(