diff --git a/opentracing-mock/src/main/java/io/opentracing/mock/MockTracer.java b/opentracing-mock/src/main/java/io/opentracing/mock/MockTracer.java
index cf9e0ac6..96a765e7 100644
--- a/opentracing-mock/src/main/java/io/opentracing/mock/MockTracer.java
+++ b/opentracing-mock/src/main/java/io/opentracing/mock/MockTracer.java
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ public <C> void inject(MockSpan.MockContext ctx, Format<C> format, C carrier) {
                         binary.write(ByteBuffer.wrap(stream.toByteArray()));
 
                     } catch (IOException e) {
-                        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Corrupted data");
+                        throw new RuntimeException("Corrupted state");
                     } finally {
                         if (objStream != null) {
                             try { objStream.close(); } catch (Exception e2) {}