diff --git a/app/services/process_references_service.rb b/app/services/process_references_service.rb
index 69d460c6d4..6965fed9f6 100644
--- a/app/services/process_references_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/process_references_service.rb
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class ProcessReferencesService < BaseService
   end
 
   def scan_text!
-    text = @status.text.gsub('\u003c', '<').gsub('\u003e', '>').gsub(%r{</?[^>]*>}, '')
+    text = @status.account.local? ? @status.text : @status.text.gsub('\\u003c', '<').gsub('\\u003e', '>').gsub(%r{</?[^>]*>}, '')
     @scan_text = fetch_statuses!(text.scan(REFURL_EXP).pluck(3).uniq).map(&:id).uniq.filter { |status_id| !status_id.zero? }
   end