diff --git a/app/celery/tasks.py b/app/celery/tasks.py
index 436def14d..e96d7e3d8 100644
--- a/app/celery/tasks.py
+++ b/app/celery/tasks.py
@@ -486,6 +486,7 @@ def send_inbound_sms_to_service(self, inbound_sms_id, service_id):
                                             inbound_id=inbound_sms_id)
     data = {
         "id": str(inbound_sms.id),
+        # TODO: should we be validating and formatting the phone number here?
         "source_number": inbound_sms.user_number,
         "destination_number": inbound_sms.notify_number,
         "message": inbound_sms.content,
diff --git a/app/notifications/receive_notifications.py b/app/notifications/receive_notifications.py
index 3167134e3..22a7fe61e 100644
--- a/app/notifications/receive_notifications.py
+++ b/app/notifications/receive_notifications.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from urllib.parse import unquote
 
 import iso8601
 from flask import jsonify, Blueprint, current_app, request, abort
-from notifications_utils.recipients import validate_and_format_phone_number
+from notifications_utils.recipients import try_validate_and_format_phone_number
 
 from app import statsd_client, firetext_client, mmg_client
 from app.celery import tasks
@@ -109,7 +109,11 @@ def format_mmg_datetime(date):
 
 
 def create_inbound_sms_object(service, content, from_number, provider_ref, date_received, provider_name):
-    user_number = validate_and_format_phone_number(from_number, international=True)
+    user_number = try_validate_and_format_phone_number(
+        from_number,
+        international=True,
+        log_msg='Invalid from_number received'
+    )
 
     provider_date = date_received
     if provider_date:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 8d69902c5..8b5cb9f35 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,6 @@ notifications-python-client==4.6.0
 awscli>=1.11,<1.12
 awscli-cwlogs>=1.4,<1.5
 
-git+https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-utils.git@23.0.1#egg=notifications-utils==23.0.1
+git+https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-utils.git@23.1.0#egg=notifications-utils==23.1.0
 
 git+https://github.com/alphagov/boto.git@2.43.0-patch3#egg=boto==2.43.0-patch3
diff --git a/tests/app/notifications/test_receive_notification.py b/tests/app/notifications/test_receive_notification.py
index 7f784135c..fbd190a50 100644
--- a/tests/app/notifications/test_receive_notification.py
+++ b/tests/app/notifications/test_receive_notification.py
@@ -413,3 +413,24 @@ def test_firetext_inbound_sms_auth(notify_db_session, notify_api, client, mocker
     with set_config(notify_api, 'FIRETEXT_INBOUND_SMS_AUTH', keys):
         response = firetext_post(client, data, auth=bool(auth), password=auth)
         assert response.status_code == status_code
+
+
+def test_create_inbound_sms_object_works_with_alphanumeric_sender(sample_service_full_permissions):
+    data = {
+        'Message': 'hello',
+        'Number': sample_service_full_permissions.get_inbound_number(),
+        'MSISDN': 'ALPHANUM3R1C',
+        'DateRecieved': '2017-01-02+03%3A04%3A05',
+        'ID': 'bar',
+    }
+
+    inbound_sms = create_inbound_sms_object(
+        service=sample_service_full_permissions,
+        content=format_mmg_message(data["Message"]),
+        from_number='ALPHANUM3R1C',
+        provider_ref='foo',
+        date_received=None,
+        provider_name="mmg"
+    )
+
+    assert inbound_sms.user_number == 'ALPHANUM3R1C'