diff --git a/process/DuplicateScanner_lib/process.js b/process/DuplicateScanner_lib/process.js
index 22af6346ec91286765002ad95953652f0958f5bd..983c5c274534304fb3ce58da2fd34c03fa5bd3eb 100644
--- a/process/DuplicateScanner_lib/process.js
+++ b/process/DuplicateScanner_lib/process.js
@@ -728,7 +728,7 @@ DuplicateScannerUtils.buildEntityFieldConfigs = function(pDuplicateFieldsConfig,
         if(entityFieldValue == null)
             entityFieldValue = "";
         else
-            entityFieldValue = entityFieldValue.toLowerCase().replace(/[():\.\/!]/gi, "").trim();
+            ntityFieldValue = indexsearch.escapeString(entityFieldValue).trim();
         
         let exclude = fieldConfig.exclude;
         if (exclude)