diff --git a/deploy.sh b/deploy.sh
index ad4a1ad..037cba5 100755
--- a/deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy.sh
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ create_users() {
 	_owner=$(check_owner "$username" "$owner")
 	if test -n "$_owner"
 	then
-		if ! grep -e "^$_owner" /etc/passwd > /dev/null
+		if ! grep -e "^${_owner}:" /etc/passwd > /dev/null
 		then
 		useradd -m -G "$VMDUSERS" "$_owner"
 		echo "$message" > "/home/${_owner}/.ssh/authorized_keys"