diff --git a/crates/librqbit/src/peer_connection.rs b/crates/librqbit/src/peer_connection.rs
index 7994933..e5d7096 100644
--- a/crates/librqbit/src/peer_connection.rs
+++ b/crates/librqbit/src/peer_connection.rs
@@ -272,8 +272,12 @@ impl<H: PeerConnectionHandler> PeerConnection<H> {
                             .and_then(|e| e.ut_metadata())
                     })?,
                     WriterRequest::ReadChunkRequest(chunk) => {
+                        #[allow(unused_mut)]
+                        let mut skip_reading_for_e2e_tests = false;
+
                         #[cfg(test)]
                         {
+                            use tracing::warn;
                             // This is poor-mans fault injection for running e2e tests.
                             use crate::tests::test_util::TestPeerMetadata;
                             let tpm = TestPeerMetadata::from_peer_id(self.peer_id);
@@ -286,6 +290,12 @@ impl<H: PeerConnectionHandler> PeerConnection<H> {
                                 * (tpm.max_random_sleep_ms as f64))
                                 as u64;
                             tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(sleep_ms)).await;
+
+                            if rand::thread_rng().gen_bool(tpm.bad_data_probability()) {
+                                warn!("will NOT actually read the data to simulate a malicious peer that sends garbage");
+                                write_buf.fill(0);
+                                skip_reading_for_e2e_tests = true;
+                            }
                         }
 
                         // this whole section is an optimization
@@ -293,12 +303,14 @@ impl<H: PeerConnectionHandler> PeerConnection<H> {
                         let preamble_len = serialize_piece_preamble(chunk, &mut write_buf);
                         let full_len = preamble_len + chunk.size as usize;
                         write_buf.resize(full_len, 0);
-                        self.spawner
-                            .spawn_block_in_place(|| {
-                                self.handler
-                                    .read_chunk(chunk, &mut write_buf[preamble_len..])
-                            })
-                            .with_context(|| format!("error reading chunk {chunk:?}"))?;
+                        if !skip_reading_for_e2e_tests {
+                            self.spawner
+                                .spawn_block_in_place(|| {
+                                    self.handler
+                                        .read_chunk(chunk, &mut write_buf[preamble_len..])
+                                })
+                                .with_context(|| format!("error reading chunk {chunk:?}"))?;
+                        }
 
                         uploaded_add = Some(chunk.size);
                         full_len
diff --git a/crates/librqbit/src/tests/test_util.rs b/crates/librqbit/src/tests/test_util.rs
index aac8af0..dcf4555 100644
--- a/crates/librqbit/src/tests/test_util.rs
+++ b/crates/librqbit/src/tests/test_util.rs
@@ -63,4 +63,11 @@ impl TestPeerMetadata {
         }
         0f64
     }
+
+    pub fn bad_data_probability(&self) -> f64 {
+        if self.server_id % 2 == 0 {
+            return 0.05f64;
+        }
+        0f64
+    }
 }