diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/comments/CommentsListFragment.java b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/comments/CommentsListFragment.java
index 1b60fc00be99..6adc08963c3e 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/comments/CommentsListFragment.java
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/comments/CommentsListFragment.java
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@
 import org.wordpress.android.util.ptr.PullToRefreshHelper;
 import org.wordpress.android.util.ptr.PullToRefreshHelper.RefreshListener;
 import org.xmlrpc.android.ApiHelper;
+import org.xmlrpc.android.ApiHelper.ErrorType;
+import org.xmlrpc.android.XMLRPCFault;
 
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -406,12 +408,12 @@ void updateComments(boolean loadMore) {
      * task to retrieve latest comments from server
      */
     private class UpdateCommentsTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, CommentList> {
-        boolean isError;
-        final boolean isLoadingMore;
+        ErrorType mErrorType = ErrorType.NO_ERROR;
+        final boolean mIsLoadingMore;
         boolean mRetryOnCancelled;
 
         private UpdateCommentsTask(boolean loadMore) {
-            isLoadingMore = loadMore;
+            mIsLoadingMore = loadMore;
         }
 
         public void setRetryOnCancelled(boolean retryOnCancelled) {
@@ -422,7 +424,7 @@ public void setRetryOnCancelled(boolean retryOnCancelled) {
         protected void onPreExecute() {
             super.onPreExecute();
             mIsUpdatingComments = true;
-            if (isLoadingMore) {
+            if (mIsLoadingMore) {
                 showLoadingProgress();
             }
         }
@@ -447,19 +449,19 @@ protected CommentList doInBackground(Void... args) {
 
             Blog blog = WordPress.getCurrentBlog();
             if (blog == null) {
-                isError = true;
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.INVALID_CURRENT_BLOG;
                 return null;
             }
 
             // the first time this is called, make sure comments deleted on server are removed
             // from the local database
-            if (!mHasCheckedDeletedComments && !isLoadingMore) {
+            if (!mHasCheckedDeletedComments && !mIsLoadingMore) {
                 mHasCheckedDeletedComments = true;
                 ApiHelper.removeDeletedComments(blog);
             }
 
             Map<String, Object> hPost = new HashMap<String, Object>();
-            if (isLoadingMore) {
+            if (mIsLoadingMore) {
                 int numExisting = getCommentAdapter().getCount();
                 hPost.put("offset", numExisting);
                 hPost.put("number", COMMENTS_PER_PAGE);
@@ -473,10 +475,15 @@ protected CommentList doInBackground(Void... args) {
                                 hPost };
             try {
                 return ApiHelper.refreshComments(getActivity(), blog, params);
+            } catch (XMLRPCFault xmlrpcFault) {
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.UNKNOWN_ERROR;
+                if (xmlrpcFault.getFaultCode() == 401) {
+                    mErrorType = ErrorType.UNAUTHORIZED;
+                }
             } catch (Exception e) {
-                isError = true;
-                return null;
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.UNKNOWN_ERROR;
             }
+            return null;
         }
 
         protected void onPostExecute(CommentList comments) {
@@ -485,7 +492,7 @@ protected void onPostExecute(CommentList comments) {
             if (!isAdded()) {
                 return;
             }
-            if (isLoadingMore) {
+            if (mIsLoadingMore) {
                 hideLoadingProgress();
             }
             mPullToRefreshHelper.setRefreshing(false);
@@ -496,13 +503,16 @@ protected void onPostExecute(CommentList comments) {
             mCanLoadMoreComments = (comments != null && comments.size() > 0);
 
             // result will be null on error OR if no more comments exists
-            if (comments == null) {
-                if (isError && !getActivity().isFinishing()) {
-                    ToastUtils.showToast(getActivity(), getString(R.string.error_refresh_comments));
+            if (comments == null && !getActivity().isFinishing() && mErrorType != ErrorType.NO_ERROR) {
+                switch (mErrorType) {
+                    case UNAUTHORIZED:
+                        ToastUtils.showToast(getActivity(), getString(R.string.error_refresh_unauthorized_comments));
+                        return;
+                    default:
+                        ToastUtils.showToast(getActivity(), getString(R.string.error_refresh_comments));
+                        return;
                 }
-                return;
             }
-
             if (comments.size() > 0) {
                 getCommentAdapter().loadComments();
             }
diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/posts/PostsListFragment.java b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/posts/PostsListFragment.java
index 523b17ed1c1f..58fc94f237d3 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/posts/PostsListFragment.java
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/posts/PostsListFragment.java
@@ -323,9 +323,19 @@ public void onFailure(ApiHelper.ErrorType errorType, String errorMessage, Throwa
                 if (mProgressFooterView != null) {
                     mProgressFooterView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                 }
-                if (errorType != ErrorType.TASK_CANCELLED) {
-                    ToastUtils.showToast(getActivity(),
-                            mIsPage ? R.string.error_refresh_pages : R.string.error_refresh_posts, Duration.LONG);
+                if (errorType != ErrorType.TASK_CANCELLED && errorType != ErrorType.NO_ERROR) {
+                    switch (errorType) {
+                        case UNAUTHORIZED:
+                            ToastUtils.showToast(getActivity(),
+                                    mIsPage ? R.string.error_refresh_unauthorized_pages : R.string.error_refresh_unauthorized_posts,
+                                    Duration.LONG);
+                            return;
+                        default:
+                            ToastUtils.showToast(getActivity(),
+                                    mIsPage ? R.string.error_refresh_pages : R.string.error_refresh_posts,
+                                    Duration.LONG);
+                            return;
+                    }
                 }
             }
         });
diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/xmlrpc/android/ApiHelper.java b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/xmlrpc/android/ApiHelper.java
index be51a20b63b0..7ee6d4dbe87c 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/xmlrpc/android/ApiHelper.java
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/xmlrpc/android/ApiHelper.java
@@ -50,8 +50,9 @@
 
 public class ApiHelper {
     public enum ErrorType {
-        NO_ERROR, INVALID_CURRENT_BLOG, NETWORK_XMLRPC, INVALID_CONTEXT,
-        INVALID_RESULT, NO_UPLOAD_FILES_CAP, CAST_EXCEPTION, TASK_CANCELLED}
+        NO_ERROR, UNKNOWN_ERROR, INVALID_CURRENT_BLOG, NETWORK_XMLRPC, INVALID_CONTEXT,
+        INVALID_RESULT, NO_UPLOAD_FILES_CAP, CAST_EXCEPTION, TASK_CANCELLED, UNAUTHORIZED
+    }
 
     public static final Map<String, String> blogOptionsXMLRPCParameters = new HashMap<String, String>();
 
@@ -470,11 +471,20 @@ protected Boolean doInBackground(List<?>... params) {
                     WordPress.wpDB.savePosts(postsList, blog.getLocalTableBlogId(), isPage, !loadMore);
                 }
                 return true;
+            } catch (XMLRPCFault e) {
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.NETWORK_XMLRPC;
+                if (e.getFaultCode() == 401) {
+                    mErrorType = ErrorType.UNAUTHORIZED;
+                }
+                mErrorMessage = e.getMessage();
             } catch (XMLRPCException e) {
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.NETWORK_XMLRPC;
                 mErrorMessage = e.getMessage();
             } catch (IOException e) {
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.INVALID_RESULT;
                 mErrorMessage = e.getMessage();
             } catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
+                mErrorType = ErrorType.INVALID_RESULT;
                 mErrorMessage = e.getMessage();
             }
 
diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/res/values/strings.xml b/WordPress/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
index e5e8e1b98485..9d2f93c16ef5 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
@@ -525,13 +525,17 @@
 
     <!--  Error Messages -->
     <string name="error_delete_post">An error occurred while deleting the %s</string>
-    <!-- The 4 following messages can\'t be factorized due to i18n -->
+    <!-- The following messages can\'t be factorized due to i18n -->
     <string name="error_refresh_posts">Posts couldn\'t be refreshed at this time</string>
     <string name="error_refresh_pages">Pages couldn\'t be refreshed at this time</string>
     <string name="error_refresh_notifications">Notifications couldn\'t be refreshed at this time</string>
     <string name="error_refresh_comments">Comments couldn\'t be refreshed at this time</string>
     <string name="error_refresh_stats">Stats couldn\'t be refreshed at this time</string>
     <string name="error_refresh_media">Something went wrong while refreshing the media library. Try again later.</string>
+
+    <string name="error_refresh_unauthorized_comments">You don\'t have permission to view or edit comments</string>
+    <string name="error_refresh_unauthorized_pages">You don\'t have permission to view or edit pages</string>
+    <string name="error_refresh_unauthorized_posts">You don\'t have permission to view or edit posts</string>
     <string name="error_generic">An error occurred</string>
     <string name="error_parsing_response">An error occurred while fetching data</string>
     <string name="error_moderate_comment">An error occurred while moderating</string>