diff --git a/swh/loader/git/loader.py b/swh/loader/git/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/git/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/git/loader.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2016-2020 The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2016-2021 The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -14,11 +14,13 @@
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, Iterable, List, Optional, Set, Tuple, Type
 
 import dulwich.client
+from dulwich.errors import GitProtocolError, NotGitRepository
 from dulwich.object_store import ObjectStoreGraphWalker
 from dulwich.pack import PackData, PackInflater
 
 from swh.core.config import merge_configs
 from swh.loader.core.loader import DVCSLoader
+from swh.loader.exception import NotFound
 from swh.model import hashutil
 from swh.model.model import (
     BaseContent,
@@ -235,9 +237,24 @@
             sys.stderr.buffer.write(msg)
             sys.stderr.flush()
 
-        fetch_info = self.fetch_pack_from_origin(
-            self.origin.url, self.base_snapshot, do_progress
-        )
+        try:
+            fetch_info = self.fetch_pack_from_origin(
+                self.origin.url, self.base_snapshot, do_progress
+            )
+        except NotGitRepository as e:
+            raise NotFound(e)
+        except GitProtocolError as e:
+            # unfortunately, that kind of error is not specific to a not found
+            # scenario... It depends on the value of message within the exception.
+            for msg in [
+                "Repository unavailable",  # e.g DMCA takedown
+                "Repository not found",
+                "unexpected http resp 401",
+            ]:
+                if msg in e.args[0]:
+                    raise NotFound(e)
+            # otherwise transmit the error
+            raise
 
         self.pack_buffer = fetch_info.pack_buffer
         self.pack_size = fetch_info.pack_size
diff --git a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2018-2020  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2018-2021  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -6,15 +6,84 @@
 import os
 from unittest import TestCase
 
+from dulwich.errors import GitProtocolError, NotGitRepository, ObjectFormatException
 import dulwich.repo
 import pytest
 
 from swh.loader.git.loader import GitLoader
 from swh.loader.git.tests.test_from_disk import FullGitLoaderTests
-from swh.loader.tests import prepare_repository_from_archive
+from swh.loader.tests import assert_last_visit_matches, prepare_repository_from_archive
 
 
-class GitLoaderTest(TestCase, FullGitLoaderTests):
+class CommonGitLoaderNotFound:
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def __inject_fixtures(self, mocker):
+        """Inject required fixtures in unittest.TestCase class
+
+        """
+        self.mocker = mocker
+
+    def test_load_visit_not_found(self):
+        """Ingesting an unknown url result in a visit with not_found status
+
+        """
+        for failure_exception in [
+            GitProtocolError("Repository unavailable"),  # e.g DMCA takedown
+            GitProtocolError("Repository not found"),
+            GitProtocolError("unexpected http resp 401"),
+            NotGitRepository("not a git repo"),
+        ]:
+            with self.subTest(failure_exception=failure_exception):
+                # simulate an initial communication error (e.g no repository found, ...)
+                mock = self.mocker.patch(
+                    "swh.loader.git.loader.GitLoader.fetch_pack_from_origin"
+                )
+                mock.side_effect = failure_exception
+
+                res = self.loader.load()
+                assert res == {"status": "uneventful"}
+
+                assert_last_visit_matches(
+                    self.loader.storage,
+                    self.repo_url,
+                    status="not_found",
+                    type="git",
+                    snapshot=None,
+                )
+
+    def test_load_visit_failure(self):
+        """Failing during the fetch pack step result in failing visit
+
+        """
+        for failure_exception in [
+            IOError,
+            ObjectFormatException,
+            OSError,
+            ValueError,
+            GitProtocolError,
+        ]:
+            with self.subTest(failure_exception=failure_exception):
+                # simulate a fetch communication error after the initial connection
+                # server error (e.g IOError, ObjectFormatException, ...)
+                mock = self.mocker.patch(
+                    "swh.loader.git.loader.GitLoader.fetch_pack_from_origin"
+                )
+
+                mock.side_effect = failure_exception("failure")
+
+                res = self.loader.load()
+                assert res == {"status": "failed"}
+
+                assert_last_visit_matches(
+                    self.loader.storage,
+                    self.repo_url,
+                    status="failed",
+                    type="git",
+                    snapshot=None,
+                )
+
+
+class GitLoaderTest(TestCase, FullGitLoaderTests, CommonGitLoaderNotFound):
     """Prepare a git directory repository to be loaded through a GitLoader.
     This tests all git loader scenario.
 
@@ -34,7 +103,7 @@
         self.repo = dulwich.repo.Repo(self.destination_path)
 
 
-class GitLoader2Test(TestCase, FullGitLoaderTests):
+class GitLoader2Test(TestCase, FullGitLoaderTests, CommonGitLoaderNotFound):
     """Mostly the same loading scenario but with a base-url different than the repo-url.
     To walk slightly different paths, the end result should stay the same.