diff --git a/scrapy/utils/curl.py b/scrapy/utils/curl.py
index a2243ae2e..f5dbbd64e 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/curl.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/curl.py
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ from urllib.parse import urlparse
 from w3lib.http import basic_auth_header
 
 
+class DataAction(argparse.Action):
+    def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
+        value = str(values)
+        if value.startswith("$"):
+            value = value[1:]
+        setattr(namespace, self.dest, value)
+
+
 class CurlParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
     def error(self, message):
         error_msg = f"There was an error parsing the curl command: {message}"
@@ -17,7 +25,7 @@ curl_parser = CurlParser()
 curl_parser.add_argument("url")
 curl_parser.add_argument("-H", "--header", dest="headers", action="append")
 curl_parser.add_argument("-X", "--request", dest="method")
-curl_parser.add_argument("-d", "--data", "--data-raw", dest="data")
+curl_parser.add_argument("-d", "--data", "--data-raw", dest="data", action=DataAction)
 curl_parser.add_argument("-u", "--user", dest="auth")
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_utils_curl.py b/tests/test_utils_curl.py
index fd4612eba..1816db29b 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils_curl.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils_curl.py
@@ -154,6 +154,15 @@ class CurlToRequestKwargsTest(unittest.TestCase):
         }
         self._test_command(curl_command, expected_result)
 
+    def test_post_data_raw_with_string_prefix(self):
+        curl_command = "curl 'https://www.example.org/' --data-raw $'{\"$filters\":\"Filter\u0021\"}'"
+        expected_result = {
+            "method": "POST",
+            "url": "https://www.example.org/",
+            "body": '{"$filters":"Filter!"}',
+        }
+        self._test_command(curl_command, expected_result)
+
     def test_explicit_get_with_data(self):
         curl_command = "curl httpbin.org/anything -X GET --data asdf"
         expected_result = {