diff --git a/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c b/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c
index badcfcc29b0..083a8d50a2c 100644
--- a/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c
+++ b/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ PHP_METHOD(SQLite3, loadExtension)
 
 	if (extension_len == 0) {
 		zend_argument_value_error(1, "cannot be empty");
-		RETURN_FALSE;
+		RETURN_THROWS();
 	}
 
 	extension_dir = SQLITE3G(extension_dir);