diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 94f6fef..32bbe54 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ The result will be written to the console but also written as JSON to a `results
 
 For each phone number, you can expect the following possible responses:
 
-1. If available, you will receive the Telegram Username,Name, and ID that are connected with this number.
+1. If available, you will receive the Telegram Username, Name, and ID that are connected with this number.
 2. 'no username detected'. This means that it looks like the number was used to create a Telegram account but the user did not choose a Telegram Username. It is optional to create a Username on Telegram.
 3. 'ERROR: no response, the user does not exist or has blocked contact adding.': There can be several reasons for this response. Either the phone number has not been used to create a Telegram account. Or: The phone number is connected to a Telegram account but the user has restricted the option to find him/her via the phone number.
 4. Or: another error occurred.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 983a7e9..9a0dd96 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "telegram-phone-number-checker"
-version = "1.0.2"
+version = "1.0.3"
 description = "Check if phone numbers are connected to Telegram accounts."
 authors = ["Bellingcat"]
 license = "MIT"
diff --git a/telegram_phone_number_checker/main.py b/telegram_phone_number_checker/main.py
index f2828dc..5bd0b1d 100644
--- a/telegram_phone_number_checker/main.py
+++ b/telegram_phone_number_checker/main.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
-import os, json
-from telethon.sync import TelegramClient, errors
+import os, json, re
+from telethon.sync import TelegramClient, errors, functions
 from telethon.tl.types import InputPhoneContact
-from telethon import functions
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
 from getpass import getpass
 import click
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ def validate_users(client, phone_numbers):
     if not phone_numbers or not len(phone_numbers):
         phone_numbers = input('Enter the phone numbers to check, separated by commas: ')
     result = {}
-    phones = [p.strip() for p in phone_numbers.split(",")]
+    phones = [re.sub(r"\s+", "", p, flags=re.UNICODE) for p in phone_numbers.split(",")]
     try:
         for phone in phones:
             if phone not in result: