diff --git a/packages/web3-utils/src/converters.ts b/packages/web3-utils/src/converters.ts
index 9bcad9e70c4..e1ca62930ff 100644
--- a/packages/web3-utils/src/converters.ts
+++ b/packages/web3-utils/src/converters.ts
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ export const toHex = (
 			return returnType ? 'bytes' : value;
 		}
 		if (isHex(value) && !isInt(value)) {
-			return returnType ? 'bytes' : value;
+			return returnType ? 'bytes' : `0x${value}`;
 		}
 
 		if (!Number.isFinite(value)) {
diff --git a/packages/web3-utils/test/fixtures/converters.ts b/packages/web3-utils/test/fixtures/converters.ts
index b99efa1baea..ed3f7bb9274 100644
--- a/packages/web3-utils/test/fixtures/converters.ts
+++ b/packages/web3-utils/test/fixtures/converters.ts
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ export const toHexValidData: [Numbers | Bytes | Address | boolean, [HexString, V
 		['0x72fdb1c1ddd4c67804f42b93de95cf6a8c51d2d1', 'address'],
 	],
 	['-0x01', ['-0x1', 'int256']],
+	['123c', ['0x123c', 'bytes']],
 ];
 
 export const toHexInvalidData: [any, string][] = [