diff --git a/src/documents/consumer.py b/src/documents/consumer.py
index eca0c1c68..ccc3ee250 100644
--- a/src/documents/consumer.py
+++ b/src/documents/consumer.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import datetime
+import hashlib
 import logging
 import tempfile
 import uuid
@@ -101,6 +102,14 @@ class Consumer(object):
             if self._is_ready(doc):
                 continue
 
+            if self._is_duplicate(doc):
+                self.log(
+                    "info",
+                    "Skipping {} as it appears to be a duplicate".format(doc)
+                )
+                self._ignore.append(doc)
+                continue
+
             self.logging_group = uuid.uuid4()
 
             self.log("info", "Consuming {}".format(doc))
@@ -340,6 +349,12 @@ class Consumer(object):
 
         return False
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _is_duplicate(doc):
+        with open(doc, "rb") as f:
+            checksum = hashlib.md5(f.read()).hexdigest()
+        return Document.objects.filter(checksum=checksum).exists()
+
 
 def image_to_string(args):
     img, lang = args