diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c2cabf1..0c6c23f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ yapfaq 1.1.0 (unreleased)
   * Accept a posting-frequency of "never", too.
   * Check for illegal headers and stop posting, if found.
   * Disabled projects must be posted, if forced.
+  * Warn of unencoded 8bit characters in header or body if -d is set.
 
 yapfaq 1.0.1 (2025-01-24)
   * Add %t placeholder for Message-ID (feature parity with 0.9).
diff --git a/bin/yapfaq.pl b/bin/yapfaq.pl
index 81b645d..f7af3f7 100755
--- a/bin/yapfaq.pl
+++ b/bin/yapfaq.pl
@@ -430,6 +430,16 @@ sub BuildPosting {
   # add User-Agent
   push @Headers, "User-Agent: $NAME/$VERSION\n";
 
+  # check for unencoded 8bit characters in header or body in --debug mode
+  # taken from tinews.pl
+  if ($Config{'debug'}) {
+    print "- Raw 8-bit data in headers.\n" if (grep {/[\x80-\xff]/} @Headers);
+     # check for MIME headers and warn for 8bit characters in body if missing
+    if (!defined($Header{'mime-version'}) || !defined($Header{'content-type'})) {
+      print "- 8bit data in body without MIME-headers.\n" if (grep {/[\x80-\xff]/} @Body);
+    }
+  }
+
   # parse pseudo headers from body
   my ($InRealBody,$LastModified,$PostingFrequency);
   foreach (@Body) {