diff --git a/builtin/fsck.c b/builtin/fsck.c
index b6ac878270..766bbd014d 100644
--- a/builtin/fsck.c
+++ b/builtin/fsck.c
@@ -899,21 +899,6 @@ static int check_pack_rev_indexes(struct repository *r, int show_progress)
 	return res;
 }
 
-static void fsck_refs(void)
-{
-	struct child_process refs_verify = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
-	child_process_init(&refs_verify);
-	refs_verify.git_cmd = 1;
-	strvec_pushl(&refs_verify.args, "refs", "verify", NULL);
-	if (verbose)
-		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--verbose");
-	if (check_strict)
-		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--strict");
-
-	if (run_command(&refs_verify))
-		errors_found |= ERROR_REFS;
-}
-
 static char const * const fsck_usage[] = {
 	N_("git fsck [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]\n"
 	   "         [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found]\n"
@@ -1083,8 +1068,6 @@ int cmd_fsck(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	check_connectivity();
 
-	fsck_refs();
-
 	if (the_repository->settings.core_commit_graph) {
 		struct child_process commit_graph_verify = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
 
diff --git a/fsck.c b/fsck.c
index d5e7c88eab..7eb5cdefdd 100644
--- a/fsck.c
+++ b/fsck.c
@@ -235,7 +235,6 @@ static int fsck_vreport(struct fsck_options *options,
 			void *fsck_report,
 			enum fsck_msg_id msg_id, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
 {
-	va_list ap_copy;
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
 	enum fsck_msg_type msg_type = fsck_msg_type(msg_id, options);
 	int result;
@@ -251,12 +250,10 @@ static int fsck_vreport(struct fsck_options *options,
 	prepare_msg_ids();
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s: ", msg_id_info[msg_id].camelcased);
 
-	va_copy(ap_copy, ap);
-	strbuf_vaddf(&sb, fmt, ap_copy);
+	strbuf_vaddf(&sb, fmt, ap);
 	result = options->error_func(options, fsck_report,
 				     msg_type, msg_id, sb.buf);
 	strbuf_release(&sb);
-	va_end(ap);
 
 	return result;
 }
@@ -1391,5 +1388,6 @@ int fsck_objects_error_cb_print_missing_gitmodules(struct fsck_options *o,
 		puts(oid_to_hex(report->oid));
 		return 0;
 	}
-	return fsck_objects_error_function(o, fsck_report, msg_type,msg_id, message);
+	return fsck_objects_error_function(o, fsck_report,
+					   msg_type, msg_id, message);
 }
diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index 1186b6cbb1..6e6b47251d 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -3414,26 +3414,25 @@ static int files_ref_store_remove_on_disk(struct ref_store *ref_store,
  * the whole directory. This function is used as the callback for each
  * regular file or symlink in the directory.
  */
-typedef int (*files_fsck_refs_fn)(struct fsck_options *o,
-				  const char *gitdir,
+typedef int (*files_fsck_refs_fn)(struct ref_store *ref_store,
+				  struct fsck_options *o,
 				  const char *refs_check_dir,
 				  struct dir_iterator *iter);
 
-static int files_fsck_refs_name(struct fsck_options *o,
-				const char *gitdir UNUSED,
+static int files_fsck_refs_name(struct ref_store *ref_store UNUSED,
+				struct fsck_options *o,
 				const char *refs_check_dir,
 				struct dir_iterator *iter)
 {
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
-	size_t len = 0;
 	int ret = 0;
 
 	/*
 	 * Ignore the files ending with ".lock" as they may be lock files
 	 * However, do not allow bare ".lock" files.
 	 */
-	if (strip_suffix(iter->basename, ".lock", &len) && (len != 0))
-		goto clean;
+	if (iter->basename[0] != '.' && ends_with(iter->basename, ".lock"))
+		goto cleanup;
 
 	if (check_refname_format(iter->basename, REFNAME_ALLOW_ONELEVEL)) {
 		struct fsck_ref_report report = { .path = NULL };
@@ -3445,7 +3444,7 @@ static int files_fsck_refs_name(struct fsck_options *o,
 				      "invalid refname format");
 	}
 
-clean:
+cleanup:
 	strbuf_release(&sb);
 	return ret;
 }
@@ -3455,13 +3454,12 @@ static int files_fsck_refs_dir(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 			       const char *refs_check_dir,
 			       files_fsck_refs_fn *fsck_refs_fn)
 {
-	const char *gitdir = ref_store->gitdir;
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
 	struct dir_iterator *iter;
 	int iter_status;
 	int ret = 0;
 
-	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/%s", gitdir, refs_check_dir);
+	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/%s", ref_store->gitdir, refs_check_dir);
 
 	iter = dir_iterator_begin(sb.buf, 0);
 	if (!iter) {
@@ -3478,7 +3476,7 @@ static int files_fsck_refs_dir(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 				fprintf_ln(stderr, "Checking %s/%s",
 					   refs_check_dir, iter->relative_path);
 			for (size_t i = 0; fsck_refs_fn[i]; i++) {
-				if (fsck_refs_fn[i](o, gitdir, refs_check_dir, iter))
+				if (fsck_refs_fn[i](ref_store, o, refs_check_dir, iter))
 					ret = -1;
 			}
 		} else {
@@ -3507,7 +3505,7 @@ static int files_fsck_refs(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 	};
 
 	if (o->verbose)
-		fprintf_ln(stderr, "Checking references consistency");
+		fprintf_ln(stderr, _("Checking references consistency"));
 	return files_fsck_refs_dir(ref_store, o,  "refs", fsck_refs_fn);
 
 }
diff --git a/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh b/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh
index 2be28427ab..71a4d1a5ae 100755
--- a/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh
+++ b/t/t0602-reffiles-fsck.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref name should be checked' '
 	git tag multi_hierarchy/tag-2 &&
 
 	cp $branch_dir_prefix/branch-1 $branch_dir_prefix/.branch-1 &&
-	test_must_fail git fsck 2>err &&
+	test_must_fail git refs verify 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	error: refs/heads/.branch-1: badRefName: invalid refname format
 	EOF
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref name should be checked' '
 	test_cmp expect err &&
 
 	cp $branch_dir_prefix/branch-1 $branch_dir_prefix/@ &&
-	test_must_fail git fsck 2>err &&
+	test_must_fail git refs verify 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	error: refs/heads/@: badRefName: invalid refname format
 	EOF
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref name should be checked' '
 	test_cmp expect err &&
 
 	cp $tag_dir_prefix/multi_hierarchy/tag-2 $tag_dir_prefix/multi_hierarchy/@ &&
-	test_must_fail git fsck 2>err &&
+	test_must_fail git refs verify 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	error: refs/tags/multi_hierarchy/@: badRefName: invalid refname format
 	EOF
@@ -50,12 +50,12 @@ test_expect_success 'ref name should be checked' '
 	test_cmp expect err &&
 
 	cp $tag_dir_prefix/tag-1 $tag_dir_prefix/tag-1.lock &&
-	git fsck 2>err &&
+	git refs verify 2>err &&
 	rm $tag_dir_prefix/tag-1.lock &&
 	test_must_be_empty err &&
 
 	cp $tag_dir_prefix/tag-1 $tag_dir_prefix/.lock &&
-	test_must_fail git fsck 2>err &&
+	test_must_fail git refs verify 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	error: refs/tags/.lock: badRefName: invalid refname format
 	EOF
@@ -76,18 +76,16 @@ test_expect_success 'ref name check should be adapted into fsck messages' '
 	git checkout -b branch-2 &&
 	git tag tag-2 &&
 
-
 	cp $branch_dir_prefix/branch-1 $branch_dir_prefix/.branch-1 &&
-	git -c fsck.badRefName=warn fsck 2>err &&
+	git -c fsck.badRefName=warn refs verify 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	warning: refs/heads/.branch-1: badRefName: invalid refname format
 	EOF
 	rm $branch_dir_prefix/.branch-1 &&
 	test_cmp expect err &&
 
-
 	cp $branch_dir_prefix/branch-1 $branch_dir_prefix/@ &&
-	git -c fsck.badRefName=ignore fsck 2>err &&
+	git -c fsck.badRefName=ignore refs verify 2>err &&
 	test_must_be_empty err
 '
 
