Tax rebait,? Or not

Hi everyone,I've been here just over 2yrs now,with little or no contact from the uk about anything.But then back in December I received an email claiming to be from the H M revenue & customs,telling me I was entitled to a tax rebait.Well it asked for bank details,so straight away I was suspicious.I have since written a letter to H m customs in the uk,but have had no reply.It was all a bit suspect to me,and I wondered if any other Brits living here have also received one,and what you think.

Well it is possible to get one, as I did a couple of years ago.
However, the major difference was I contacted HMRC first - rather than they contacted me.
I originally contacted then through their web site...
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/
& then they contacted me via my e-mail address.
After much 'to & throw' between us about things like my National Insurance number, date of birth, place of birth,where I had work, P60s & the like for the previous 5 years & current pension details they eventually said they owed me money. They also sent me a great deal of detail through the post showing how the tax liability for the last 5 years had been worked out.
They then asked me for my bank details to repay me....
Now I must admit that freaked me out a bit. I am not happy about giving those sort of details out.
So I found (via UK Government sites = .gov) the telephone number of the tax office in Nottingham (who deal with these 'overseas' claims) & telephoned them.
At first they were dubious that I had received a letter from them...however after a bit of research (I talked to the person who had written it) I discovered it was genuine.
They offered me 2 other ways of confirming my bank details.
Via air-mail letter to the address that was on the dot.gov web site.
Via a fax to the fax number quoted on the dot.gov web site.
The money was paid into my bank account no problem.

My point is that I would certainly NOT send them any details without confirming (by independent means) that they are actually who they say they are.
For example, do not click on any link they send you - Google for the Government site independently.
The same with phone & fax numbers.
While talking to the Tax office they did say to me that many people were caught out by scams like this. No one was slightly put out that I was 'checking up' on them & that was after something like 8 e-mails between us..

there was scam going around in the uk last year people saying they were getting tax rebates and to send bank details so best of to get intouch with the inland revenue direct by phone or there website

Richard, if the email referred to it as a tax rebait, then it was definitely a scam. If it referred to it as a tax rebate I would still be suspicious, unless you have been having dialogue with the Revenue by email and the email quoted your tax reference. All my correspondence with them comes by post.

As Bob says I would contact them by telephone, and check the situation, phone numbers can be found on their website.

Yes thanks guys,I was very suspicious ,that's why I didn't send any details.But by raising the question with you,it may help someone else be aware,thank you

Any rebates I have received from HMRC have usually been in the form of a cheque, no requirement for bank details.