diff --git a/remote.c b/remote.c
index 04fd9ea4bd..5882d11a8d 100644
--- a/remote.c
+++ b/remote.c
@@ -1458,8 +1458,8 @@ int get_fetch_map(const struct ref *remote_refs,
 
 	for (rmp = &ref_map; *rmp; ) {
 		if ((*rmp)->peer_ref) {
-			if (check_refname_format((*rmp)->peer_ref->name + 5,
-				REFNAME_ALLOW_ONELEVEL)) {
+			if (prefixcmp((*rmp)->peer_ref->name, "refs/") ||
+			    check_refname_format((*rmp)->peer_ref->name, 0)) {
 				struct ref *ignore = *rmp;
 				error("* Ignoring funny ref '%s' locally",
 				      (*rmp)->peer_ref->name);