diff --git a/src/sentry/testutils/cases.py b/src/sentry/testutils/cases.py
index df238c1ed252e0..c0c7e40ceb38ca 100644
--- a/src/sentry/testutils/cases.py
+++ b/src/sentry/testutils/cases.py
@@ -116,6 +116,22 @@ def _postWithHeader(self, data, key=None, secret=None):
         )
         return resp
 
+    def _getWithoutReferer(self, data, key=None):
+        if key is None:
+            key = self.projectkey.public_key
+
+        message = self._makeMessage(data)
+        qs = {
+            'sentry_version': '4',
+            'sentry_client': 'raven-js/lol',
+            'sentry_key': key,
+            'sentry_data': message,
+        }
+        resp = self.client.get(
+            '%s?%s' % (reverse('sentry-api-store', args=(self.project.pk,)), urllib.urlencode(qs))
+        )
+        return resp
+
     def _getWithReferer(self, data, key=None):
         if key is None:
             key = self.projectkey.public_key
@@ -129,7 +145,7 @@ def _getWithReferer(self, data, key=None):
         }
         resp = self.client.get(
             '%s?%s' % (reverse('sentry-api-store', args=(self.project.pk,)), urllib.urlencode(qs)),
-            HTTP_REFERER='http://lol.com/'
+            HTTP_REFERER='http://getsentry.com/'
         )
         return resp
 
diff --git a/src/sentry/utils/http.py b/src/sentry/utils/http.py
index af675132792428..7999aa6e672f7b 100644
--- a/src/sentry/utils/http.py
+++ b/src/sentry/utils/http.py
@@ -87,9 +87,6 @@ def is_valid_origin(origin, project=None):
     - *.domain.com: matches domain.com and all subdomains, on any port
     - domain.com: matches domain.com on any port
     """
-    # we always run a case insensitive check
-    origin = origin.lower()
-
     allowed = get_origins(project)
     if '*' in allowed:
         return True
@@ -97,6 +94,9 @@ def is_valid_origin(origin, project=None):
     if not origin:
         return False
 
+    # we always run a case insensitive check
+    origin = origin.lower()
+
     # Fast check
     if origin in allowed:
         return True
diff --git a/src/sentry/web/api.py b/src/sentry/web/api.py
index 4f0dc5bf8f9df6..8ea513e47558d1 100644
--- a/src/sentry/web/api.py
+++ b/src/sentry/web/api.py
@@ -175,15 +175,15 @@ def _dispatch(self, request, project_id=None, *args, **kwargs):
             Raven.tags_context({'project': project.id})
 
         origin = self.get_request_origin(request)
-        if origin is not None:
-            if not project:
-                return HttpResponse('Your client must be upgraded for CORS support.')
-            elif not is_valid_origin(origin, project):
-                return HttpResponse('Invalid origin: %r' % origin, content_type='text/plain', status=400)
+        if origin is not None and not project:
+            return HttpResponse('Your client must be upgraded for CORS support.', content_type='text/plain', status=400)
 
         # XXX: It seems that the OPTIONS call does not always include custom headers
         if request.method == 'OPTIONS':
-            response = self.options(request, project)
+            if is_valid_origin(origin, project):
+                response = self.options(request, project)
+            else:
+                return HttpResponse('Invalid origin: %r' % origin, content_type='text/plain', status=400)
         else:
             try:
                 auth_vars = self._parse_header(request, project)
@@ -213,8 +213,11 @@ def _dispatch(self, request, project_id=None, *args, **kwargs):
             if auth.version >= 3:
                 if request.method == 'GET':
                     # GET only requires an Origin/Referer check
-                    if origin is None:
-                        return HttpResponse('Missing required Origin or Referer header', status=400)
+                    if not is_valid_origin(origin, project):
+                        if origin is None:
+                            return HttpResponse('Missing required Origin or Referer header', content_type='text/plain', status=400)
+                        else:
+                            return HttpResponse('Invalid origin: %r' % origin, content_type='text/plain', status=400)
                 else:
                     # Version 3 enforces secret key for server side requests
                     if not auth.secret_key:
diff --git a/tests/integration/tests.py b/tests/integration/tests.py
index ca96450e90e523..0092f01c590ecb 100644
--- a/tests/integration/tests.py
+++ b/tests/integration/tests.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 from django.conf import settings as django_settings
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
+from django.test.utils import override_settings
 from django.utils import timezone
 
 from raven import Client
@@ -161,6 +162,7 @@ def test_ungzipped_data(self):
         self.assertEquals(instance.site, 'not_a_real_site')
         self.assertEquals(instance.level, 40)
 
+    @override_settings(SENTRY_ALLOW_ORIGIN='getsentry.com')
     def test_correct_data_with_get(self):
         kwargs = {'message': 'hello', 'server_name': 'not_dcramer.local', 'level': 40, 'site': 'not_a_real_site'}
         resp = self._getWithReferer(kwargs)
@@ -171,6 +173,18 @@ def test_correct_data_with_get(self):
         self.assertEquals(instance.level, 40)
         self.assertEquals(instance.site, 'not_a_real_site')
 
+    @override_settings(SENTRY_ALLOW_ORIGIN='getsentry.com')
+    def test_get_without_referer(self):
+        kwargs = {'message': 'hello', 'server_name': 'not_dcramer.local', 'level': 40, 'site': 'not_a_real_site'}
+        resp = self._getWithoutReferer(kwargs)
+        self.assertEquals(resp.status_code, 400, resp.content)
+
+    @override_settings(SENTRY_ALLOW_ORIGIN='*')
+    def test_get_without_referer_allowed(self):
+        kwargs = {'message': 'hello', 'server_name': 'not_dcramer.local', 'level': 40, 'site': 'not_a_real_site'}
+        resp = self._getWithoutReferer(kwargs)
+        self.assertEquals(resp.status_code, 200, resp.content)
+
     # def test_byte_sequence(self):
     #     """
     #     invalid byte sequence for encoding "UTF8": 0xedb7af