diff --git a/lib/geocoder/stores/active_record.rb b/lib/geocoder/stores/active_record.rb
index d7a37cee22c6cae4bcd62e7a90b419f74f025143..fb0b478bcf2318f299f8993eda62790df04fb9e9 100644
--- a/lib/geocoder/stores/active_record.rb
+++ b/lib/geocoder/stores/active_record.rb
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ module Geocoder::Store
           if latitude and longitude
             near_scope_options(latitude, longitude, *args)
           else
-            {}
+            where(:id => false) # no results if no lat/lon given
           end
         }
       end
diff --git a/lib/geocoder/stores/mongoid.rb b/lib/geocoder/stores/mongoid.rb
index dbd4ee68f1ef9a3f98e40f1b30411c2ec824f0d5..cf06817b5f94e2e6953020db159354dcee40c6d5 100644
--- a/lib/geocoder/stores/mongoid.rb
+++ b/lib/geocoder/stores/mongoid.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ module Geocoder::Store
 
         scope :near, lambda{ |location, *args|
           coords  = Geocoder::Calculations.extract_coordinates(location)
+
+          # no results if no lat/lon given
+          return criteria.where(:id => false) unless coords.is_a?(Array)
+
           radius  = args.size > 0 ? args.shift : 20
           options = args.size > 0 ? args.shift : {}