diff --git a/lib/NewsStats.pm b/lib/NewsStats.pm
index 8a5dfde..f50ba94 100644
--- a/lib/NewsStats.pm
+++ b/lib/NewsStats.pm
@@ -642,9 +642,11 @@ sub SQLGroupList {
 ### OUT: SQL code to become part of a 'WHERE' clause,
 ###      list of names for SQL bindings
   my ($Names,$Type) = @_;
+  my $InvalidCharRegExp;
   # substitute '*' wildcard with SQL wildcard character '%'
   $Names =~ s/\*/%/g;
-  return (undef,undef) if !CheckValidNames($Names);
+  $InvalidCharRegExp = ',;' if $Type eq 'client';
+  return (undef,undef) if !CheckValidNames($Names,$InvalidCharRegExp);
   # just one name/newsgroup?
   return (SQLGroupWildcard($Names,$Type),$Names) if $Names !~ /:/;
   my ($SQL,@WildcardNames,@NoWildcardNames);
@@ -807,10 +809,11 @@ sub SQLBuildClause {
 sub CheckValidNames {
 ################################################################################
 ### syntax check of a list
-### IN : $Names: list of names, e.g. newsgroups (group.one.*:group.two:group.three.*)
+### IN : $Names           : list of names, e.g. newsgroups (group.one.*:group.two:group.three.*)
+###      InvalidCharRegExp: regular expression for invalid characters
 ### OUT: boolean
-  my ($Names) = @_;
-  my $InvalidCharRegExp = ',; ';
+  my ($Names,$InvalidCharRegExp) = @_;
+  $InvalidCharRegExp = ',; ' if (!$InvalidCharRegExp);
   return ($Names =~ /[$InvalidCharRegExp]/) ? 0 : 1;
 };