diff --git a/modules/nf-commons/src/main/nextflow/file/FileHelper.groovy b/modules/nf-commons/src/main/nextflow/file/FileHelper.groovy
index 665829a644..47d5a72841 100644
--- a/modules/nf-commons/src/main/nextflow/file/FileHelper.groovy
+++ b/modules/nf-commons/src/main/nextflow/file/FileHelper.groovy
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ class FileHelper {
 
     static final public Pattern URL_PROTOCOL = ~/^([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*):\\/\\/.+/
 
+    static final public Pattern INVALID_URL_PREFIX = ~/^(?!file)([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*):\\/[^\\/].+/
+
     static final private Pattern BASE_URL = ~/(?i)((?:[a-z][a-zA-Z0-9]*)?:\/\/[^:|\/]+(?::\d*)?)(?:$|\/.*)/
 
     static final private Path localTempBasePath
@@ -288,6 +290,10 @@ class FileHelper {
             return Paths.get(str)
         }
 
+        // check for valid the url scheme
+        if( INVALID_URL_PREFIX.matcher(str).matches() )
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("File path is prefixed with an invalid URL scheme - Offending path: '${Escape.blanks(str)}'")
+
         return asPath0(str)
     }
 
diff --git a/modules/nf-commons/src/test/nextflow/file/FileHelperTest.groovy b/modules/nf-commons/src/test/nextflow/file/FileHelperTest.groovy
index a6a2542d0c..72aeee017d 100644
--- a/modules/nf-commons/src/test/nextflow/file/FileHelperTest.groovy
+++ b/modules/nf-commons/src/test/nextflow/file/FileHelperTest.groovy
@@ -47,6 +47,29 @@ class FileHelperTest extends Specification {
         Files.createTempDirectory(tmp, 'test')
     }
 
+    def 'should match invalid url prefix' (){
+        expect:
+        FileHelper.INVALID_URL_PREFIX.matcher(STR).matches() == EXPECTED
+
+        where:
+        EXPECTED| STR
+        true    | 's3:/foo'
+        true    | 'az:/foo'
+        true    | 'gs:/foo'
+        true    | 'xyz:/foo'
+        and:
+        false   | 'file:/foo'   // <- this is ok
+        and:
+        false   | 's3://foo'
+        false   | 'az://foo'
+        false   | 'gs://foo'
+        false   | 'http://foo'
+        false   | 'https://foo'
+        false   | 'ftp://foo'
+        false   | 'xyz://foo'
+
+    }
+
     def 'should return a Path object' () {
 
         expect:
@@ -79,6 +102,12 @@ class FileHelperTest extends Specification {
         then:
         e = thrown(IllegalArgumentException)
         e.message == "Path string cannot ends with a blank or special characters -- Offending path: '/some/file.txt\\n'"
+
+        when:
+        FileHelper.asPath('s3:/some/broken/url')
+        then:
+        e = thrown(IllegalArgumentException)
+        e.message == "File path is prefixed with an invalid URL scheme - Offending path: 's3:/some/broken/url'"
     }
 
     def 'should strip query params from http files' () {