diff --git a/defender/tests.py b/defender/tests.py
index 037a4f9..0f71abe 100644
--- a/defender/tests.py
+++ b/defender/tests.py
@@ -1173,6 +1173,16 @@ class TestUtils(DefenderTestCase):
         req.META["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"] = "[2001:db8::1]:123456"
         self.assertEqual(utils.get_ip(req), "2001:db8::1")
 
+    def test_remove_prefix(self):
+        """ test the remove_prefix() method """
+        self.assertEqual(utils.remove_prefix(
+            "defender:blocked:ip:192.168.24.24", "defender:blocked:"), "ip:192.168.24.24")
+        self.assertEqual(utils.remove_prefix(
+            "defender:blocked:username:johndoe", "defender:blocked:"), "username:johndoe")
+        self.assertEqual(utils.remove_prefix(
+            "defender:blocked:username:johndoe", "blocked:username:"),
+            "defender:blocked:username:johndoe")
+
 
 class TestRedisConnection(TestCase):
     """ Test the redis connection parsing """
@@ -1224,4 +1234,4 @@ class TestRedisConnection(TestCase):
         redis_client.set('test3', 0)
         result = int(redis_client.get('test3'))
         self.assertEqual(result, 0)
-        redis_client.delete('test3')
+        redis_client.delete('test3')
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/defender/utils.py b/defender/utils.py
index fb8ec3a..fb35fd0 100644
--- a/defender/utils.py
+++ b/defender/utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from ipaddress import ip_address
 import logging
 import re
+import sys
 
 from django.http import HttpResponse
 from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
@@ -127,20 +128,38 @@ def get_username_blocked_cache_key(username):
     )
 
 
+def remove_prefix(string, prefix):
+    if string.startswith(prefix):
+        return string[len(prefix):]
+    return string
+
+
+
 def strip_keys(key_list):
     """ Given a list of keys, remove the prefix and remove just
     the data we care about.
 
     for example:
 
-        ['defender:blocked:ip:ken', 'defender:blocked:ip:joffrey']
+        [
+            'defender:blocked:ip:192.168.24.24',
+            'defender:blocked:ip:::ffff:192.168.24.24',
+            'defender:blocked:username:joffrey'
+        ]
 
     would result in:
 
-        ['ken', 'joffrey']
-
+        [
+            '192.168.24.24',
+            '::ffff:192.168.24.24',
+            'joffrey'
+        ]
     """
-    return [key.split(":")[-1] for key in key_list]
+    return [
+        # key.removeprefix(f"{config.CACHE_PREFIX}:blocked:").partition(":")[2]
+        remove_prefix(key, f"{config.CACHE_PREFIX}:blocked:").partition(":")[2]
+        for key in key_list
+    ]
 
 
 def get_blocked_ips():