Safety

Staying safe

Roomly does not check who anyone is. Nobody here has been vetted, and a verified email address proves nothing about a person. These are the habits that keep flat hunting safe.

Version 1.0 Last updated 12 August 2026 Skaityti lietuviškai

1. In an emergency

Call 112. It is free, it works from any phone in Lithuania and anywhere in the EU, and it reaches the police, the ambulance service and the fire service.

If you are in a situation that feels wrong, you do not need a reason to leave. Leave.

2. The five rules

If you remember nothing else on this page, remember these.

Meet in public first

A cafe, not a flat. Daytime, not late evening. Somewhere with other people in it. If the first meeting goes well, the viewing can be the second one.

Video call before you meet

Ten minutes on a video call tells you more than fifty messages. It also confirms that the person looks like their photos. Someone who will not video call before meeting is telling you something.

Never send a deposit before you have seen the flat

Not a deposit, not a booking fee, not a reservation, not "just to hold it". No genuine landlord in Vilnius needs money from a stranger before a viewing.

Check the landlord independently

Do not rely on what the person tells you. Check it yourself, from a source they did not give you. Section 4 explains how.

Tell someone where you are going

Send a friend the address, the name, the time and how long you expect to be. Message them when you leave. Share your live location if your phone can do it.

3. Never send money first

The rental deposit scam is the most common fraud in Lithuanian flat hunting, and it is simple. The flat looks great, the price is a little under market, the person is friendly, and they are abroad or busy, so they cannot show it right now. They ask for the deposit or the first month to hold it. Then they stop replying.

Some versions add pressure: another person is viewing tomorrow, the price goes up on Monday, they need proof you are serious. Pressure to pay quickly is the point of the story, not a detail of it.

  • See the flat with your own eyes before any money moves. A video walkthrough is not the same thing.
  • Get a written tenancy agreement first. Read it before you sign it.
  • Pay by bank transfer to a named account that matches the name on the agreement. Never by cryptocurrency, gift card, Western Union or a cash handover in a car park.
  • Keep the messages and the receipts.

Roomly never asks you for money for anything. If a message claims to be from Roomly and asks you to pay, it is not from us. Report it.

4. Check the landlord yourself

Anyone can say they own a flat. Checking takes ten minutes.

  • Ask who owns the property, and ask to see it in writing. An owner can show an extract from the Real Property Register. The Centre of Registers issues these and anyone can order one for a small fee.
  • Check the name on the tenancy against the name on the bank account. If they differ, ask why before you pay anything.
  • If you are renting a room in a flat that is itself rented, ask to see the head landlord's written permission to sublet. Without it you can be asked to leave with no notice.
  • Search the address and the phone number. The same photos advertised at three different prices under three different names is the oldest sign there is.
  • Reverse image search the photos. Scam listings reuse photographs from real advertisements, often from another city or another country.

The five rental cards on our home page link out to the original advertisement. Open the source listing and read it there. We do not verify those listings and they go out of date.

5. Warning signs

None of these on their own proves anything. Two or three together means slow down.

  • They will not video call and will not meet in person.
  • The rent is well below what similar flats in that district cost.
  • They are "abroad" and want to post you the keys.
  • They push you to decide today.
  • They want to move the conversation off Roomly straight away, before you know anything about each other.
  • They ask for a copy of your passport, your ID card or your bank details early on.
  • Their story changes, or the details do not add up when you ask twice.
  • They get angry or guilt trip you when you ask a normal question.

6. What to keep off your profile

Your profile is public to everyone who signs up, and signing up is automatic. Keep these out of it:

  • your home address, or a photo where the door number or street sign is readable;
  • your phone number;
  • your workplace name and address;
  • your ID document, your passport or anything with a personal code on it;
  • any bank detail;
  • your daily routine in detail, such as the exact hours the flat is empty.

Share a phone number when you have decided to meet, not before. See the Privacy Notice.

7. If something goes wrong

Someone is threatening, harassing or frightening you
Call 112 if it is urgent. Report the profile or the message to us with the report form. Keep screenshots.
You think you have been scammed
Contact your bank at once and ask them to try to recall the payment. Report it to the police. Then tell us with the report form so we can remove the account.
Someone posted your photo or your private information
Use the report form, or email teisine@roomly.com. We remove this quickly.
A profile turned out to be fake
Report it. Fake profiles are removed and the account is closed.

Reporting takes two minutes and a person reads every report. It also protects the next person, who may not spot what you spotted.

Version 1.0. Last updated 12 August 2026. The Lithuanian version is at safety.lt.html.