diff --git a/src/merkleblock.h b/src/merkleblock.h
index 0976e21c3..984e33a96 100644
--- a/src/merkleblock.h
+++ b/src/merkleblock.h
@@ -115,6 +115,12 @@ public:
      * returns the merkle root, or 0 in case of failure
      */
     uint256 ExtractMatches(std::vector<uint256> &vMatch, std::vector<unsigned int> &vnIndex);
+
+    /** Get number of transactions the merkle proof is indicating for cross-reference with
+     * local blockchain knowledge.
+     */
+    unsigned int GetNumTransactions() const { return nTransactions; };
+
 };
 
 
diff --git a/src/rpc/rawtransaction.cpp b/src/rpc/rawtransaction.cpp
index 63548bff0..3e06b05ac 100644
--- a/src/rpc/rawtransaction.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/rawtransaction.cpp
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ static UniValue verifytxoutproof(const JSONRPCRequest& request)
             "\nArguments:\n"
             "1. \"proof\"    (string, required) The hex-encoded proof generated by gettxoutproof\n"
             "\nResult:\n"
-            "[\"txid\"]      (array, strings) The txid(s) which the proof commits to, or empty array if the proof is invalid\n"
+            "[\"txid\"]      (array, strings) The txid(s) which the proof commits to, or empty array if the proof can not be validated.\n"
         );
 
     CDataStream ssMB(ParseHexV(request.params[0], "proof"), SER_NETWORK, PROTOCOL_VERSION | SERIALIZE_TRANSACTION_NO_WITNESS);
@@ -323,12 +323,17 @@ static UniValue verifytxoutproof(const JSONRPCRequest& request)
     LOCK(cs_main);
 
     const CBlockIndex* pindex = LookupBlockIndex(merkleBlock.header.GetHash());
-    if (!pindex || !chainActive.Contains(pindex)) {
+    if (!pindex || !chainActive.Contains(pindex) || pindex->nTx == 0) {
         throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INVALID_ADDRESS_OR_KEY, "Block not found in chain");
     }
 
-    for (const uint256& hash : vMatch)
-        res.push_back(hash.GetHex());
+    // Check if proof is valid, only add results if so
+    if (pindex->nTx == merkleBlock.txn.GetNumTransactions()) {
+        for (const uint256& hash : vMatch) {
+            res.push_back(hash.GetHex());
+        }
+    }
+
     return res;
 }
 
diff --git a/test/functional/rpc_txoutproof.py b/test/functional/rpc_txoutproof.py
index c52a7397d..e5a63f0c4 100755
--- a/test/functional/rpc_txoutproof.py
+++ b/test/functional/rpc_txoutproof.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
 from test_framework.util import *
+from test_framework.mininode import FromHex, ToHex
+from test_framework.messages import CMerkleBlock
 
 class MerkleBlockTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
     def set_test_params(self):
@@ -78,6 +80,27 @@ class MerkleBlockTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
         # We can't get a proof if we specify transactions from different blocks
         assert_raises_rpc_error(-5, "Not all transactions found in specified or retrieved block", self.nodes[2].gettxoutproof, [txid1, txid3])
 
+        # Now we'll try tweaking a proof.
+        proof = self.nodes[3].gettxoutproof([txid1, txid2])
+        assert txid1 in self.nodes[0].verifytxoutproof(proof)
+        assert txid2 in self.nodes[1].verifytxoutproof(proof)
+
+        tweaked_proof = FromHex(CMerkleBlock(), proof)
+
+        # Make sure that our serialization/deserialization is working
+        assert txid1 in self.nodes[2].verifytxoutproof(ToHex(tweaked_proof))
+
+        # Check to see if we can go up the merkle tree and pass this off as a
+        # single-transaction block
+        tweaked_proof.txn.nTransactions = 1
+        tweaked_proof.txn.vHash = [tweaked_proof.header.hashMerkleRoot]
+        tweaked_proof.txn.vBits = [True] + [False]*7
+
+        for n in self.nodes:
+            assert not n.verifytxoutproof(ToHex(tweaked_proof))
+
+        # TODO: try more variants, eg transactions at different depths, and
+        # verify that the proofs are invalid
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     MerkleBlockTest().main()
diff --git a/test/functional/test_framework/messages.py b/test/functional/test_framework/messages.py
index ca2e425bd..df8d424d0 100755
--- a/test/functional/test_framework/messages.py
+++ b/test/functional/test_framework/messages.py
@@ -841,6 +841,52 @@ class BlockTransactions():
     def __repr__(self):
         return "BlockTransactions(hash=%064x transactions=%s)" % (self.blockhash, repr(self.transactions))
 
+class CPartialMerkleTree():
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.nTransactions = 0
+        self.vHash = []
+        self.vBits = []
+        self.fBad = False
+
+    def deserialize(self, f):
+        self.nTransactions = struct.unpack("<i", f.read(4))[0]
+        self.vHash = deser_uint256_vector(f)
+        vBytes = deser_string(f)
+        self.vBits = []
+        for i in range(len(vBytes) * 8):
+            self.vBits.append(vBytes[i//8] & (1 << (i % 8)) != 0)
+
+    def serialize(self):
+        r = b""
+        r += struct.pack("<i", self.nTransactions)
+        r += ser_uint256_vector(self.vHash)
+        vBytesArray = bytearray([0x00] * ((len(self.vBits) + 7)//8))
+        for i in range(len(self.vBits)):
+            vBytesArray[i // 8] |= self.vBits[i] << (i % 8)
+        r += ser_string(bytes(vBytesArray))
+        return r
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return "CPartialMerkleTree(nTransactions=%d, vHash=%s, vBits=%s)" % (self.nTransactions, repr(self.vHash), repr(self.vBits))
+
+class CMerkleBlock():
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.header = CBlockHeader()
+        self.txn = CPartialMerkleTree()
+
+    def deserialize(self, f):
+        self.header.deserialize(f)
+        self.txn.deserialize(f)
+
+    def serialize(self):
+        r = b""
+        r += self.header.serialize()
+        r += self.txn.serialize()
+        return r
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return "CMerkleBlock(header=%s, txn=%s)" % (repr(self.header), repr(self.txn))
+
 
 # Objects that correspond to messages on the wire
 class msg_version():