diff --git a/docs/release_notes/release_notes-0.15.0.rst b/docs/release_notes/release_notes-0.15.0.rst
index 67d4718a2d4..606759add12 100644
--- a/docs/release_notes/release_notes-0.15.0.rst
+++ b/docs/release_notes/release_notes-0.15.0.rst
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ Key Features and Updates
   *
 * Developer API enhancements
   * FEAT-#4359: Add __dataframe__ method to the protocol dataframe (#4360)
+  * FIX-#4479: Prevent users from using a local filepath when performing a distributed write (#4484)
 * Update testing suite
   * TEST-#4363: Use Ray from pypi in CI (#4364)
   * FIX-#4422: get rid of case sensitivity for `warns_that_defaulting_to_pandas` (#4423)
diff --git a/modin/core/execution/ray/implementations/pandas_on_ray/io/io.py b/modin/core/execution/ray/implementations/pandas_on_ray/io/io.py
index bcba828f42b..981bb7e9b86 100644
--- a/modin/core/execution/ray/implementations/pandas_on_ray/io/io.py
+++ b/modin/core/execution/ray/implementations/pandas_on_ray/io/io.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 from modin.core.execution.ray.common import RayTask, SignalActor
 from ..dataframe import PandasOnRayDataframe
 from ..partitioning import PandasOnRayDataframePartition
+from modin.core.io.utils import is_local_path
 
 
 class PandasOnRayIO(RayIO):
@@ -165,6 +166,18 @@ def to_csv(cls, qc, **kwargs):
         if not cls._to_csv_check_support(kwargs):
             return RayIO.to_csv(qc, **kwargs)
 
+        if len(ray.nodes()) > 1 and (
+            not isinstance(kwargs["path_or_buf"], str)
+            or is_local_path(kwargs["path_or_buf"])
+        ):
+            from modin.error_message import ErrorMessage
+
+            ErrorMessage.single_warning(
+                "`path_or_buf` must point to a networked file or distributed filesystem (e.g. S3) "
+                + "when in cluster mode. Defaulting to pandas for `to_csv`"
+            )
+            return RayIO.to_csv(qc, **kwargs)
+
         signals = SignalActor.remote(len(qc._modin_frame._partitions) + 1)
 
         def func(df, **kw):
@@ -277,6 +290,18 @@ def to_parquet(cls, qc, **kwargs):
         if not cls._to_parquet_check_support(kwargs):
             return RayIO.to_parquet(qc, **kwargs)
 
+        if len(ray.nodes()) > 1 and (
+            not isinstance(kwargs["path_or_buf"], str)
+            or is_local_path(kwargs["path_or_buf"])
+        ):
+            from modin.error_message import ErrorMessage
+
+            ErrorMessage.single_warning(
+                "`path_or_buf` must point to a networked file or distributed filesystem (e.g. S3) "
+                + "when in cluster mode. Defaulting to pandas for `to_parquet`"
+            )
+            return RayIO.to_parquet(qc, **kwargs)
+
         def func(df, **kw):
             """
             Dump a chunk of rows as parquet, then save them to target maintaining order.
diff --git a/modin/core/io/utils.py b/modin/core/io/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4e76594161b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modin/core/io/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Licensed to Modin Development Team under one or more contributor license agreements.
+# See the NOTICE file distributed with this work for additional information regarding
+# copyright ownership.  The Modin Development Team licenses this file to you under the
+# Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
+# compliance with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under
+# the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF
+# ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language
+# governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+
+"""Collection of utility functions for distributed io."""
+
+import os
+import re
+import fsspec
+
+IS_FILE_ONLY_REGEX = re.compile(f"[^\\{os.sep}]*\.\w+")  # noqa: W605
+
+
+def is_local_path(path) -> bool:
+    """
+    Return ``True`` if the specified `path` is a local path, ``False`` otherwise.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    path : str, path object or file-like object
+        The path to check.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    Whether the `path` points to a local file.
+
+    Notes
+    -----
+    If the filesystem corresponds to a `ZipFileSystem`, `TarFileSystem` or `CachingFileSystem`,
+    this code will return `False` even if it is local.
+    """
+    try:
+        if IS_FILE_ONLY_REGEX.match(path) is not None:
+            # If we are passed just a filename, we will perform our check on the current working
+            # directory.
+            parent_dir = os.getcwd()
+        else:
+            # If we are passed a full path, we want to remove the filename from it.
+            parent_dir = os.sep.join(path.split(os.sep)[:-1])
+        fs = fsspec.core.url_to_fs(parent_dir)[0]  # Grab just the FileSystem object
+        if hasattr(
+            fs, "local_file"
+        ):  # If the FS does not have the `local_file` attr, it is not local.
+            # We still need to check that it is not a mounted file - as fsspec treats mounted
+            # files the same as local ones, but we want to distinguish between local and mounted.
+            if os.name == "nt" and parent_dir[:3] == "D:\\":
+                # In Windows, os.path.abspath(os.sep) will give us the C Drive, but we want the
+                # D drive to also be marked as local.
+                local_device_id = os.stat("D:\\")
+            else:
+                local_device_id = os.stat(os.path.abspath(os.sep)).st_dev
+            path_device_id = os.stat(parent_dir).st_dev
+            return path_device_id == local_device_id
+        return False
+    except Exception:
+        # If an exception is raised, it means we tried to open a filesystem that requires additional
+        # dependencies. This means that it is definitely not a local filesystem, so we can return
+        # `False` here.
+        return False
diff --git a/modin/pandas/test/test_io.py b/modin/pandas/test/test_io.py
index 3348c07e244..ac9b522e630 100644
--- a/modin/pandas/test/test_io.py
+++ b/modin/pandas/test/test_io.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 from modin.utils import to_pandas
 from modin.pandas.utils import from_arrow
 from modin.test.test_utils import warns_that_defaulting_to_pandas
+from modin.core.io.utils import is_local_path
 import pyarrow as pa
 import os
 from scipy import sparse
@@ -2378,3 +2379,25 @@ def test_to_period():
     )
     modin_df, pandas_df = create_test_dfs(TEST_DATA, index=index)
     df_equals(modin_df.to_period(), pandas_df.to_period())
+
+
+def test_is_local_path():
+    s3_path = "s3://modin-example-bucket/modin-example-file"
+    assert not is_local_path(s3_path), "S3 Path incorrectly flagged as local!"
+    azure_blob_path = "https://modin-example-storage-account.blob.core.windows.net/modin-example-container/modin-example-file"
+    assert not is_local_path(
+        azure_blob_path
+    ), "Azure Blob Storage Path incorrectly flagged as local!"
+    gcs_path = "gs://modin-example-bucket/modin-example-file"
+    assert not is_local_path(gcs_path), "GCS Path incorrectly flagged as local!"
+    assert is_local_path(
+        os.getcwd()
+    ), "Current Working Directory incorrectly flagged as not local!"
+    new_file = os.getcwd() + "/modin-example-file.extension"
+    assert is_local_path(
+        new_file
+    ), "Non-existent file under current working directory incorrectly flagged as not local!"
+    new_file_in_curr_dir = "modin-example-file.extension"
+    assert is_local_path(
+        new_file_in_curr_dir,
+    ), "Non-existent file without absolute path incorrectly flagged as not local!"