diff --git a/lib/checkother.cpp b/lib/checkother.cpp
index 53595c4ad0e..331cb03be27 100644
--- a/lib/checkother.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkother.cpp
@@ -1784,6 +1784,8 @@ static bool isType(const Token * tok, bool unknown)
 {
     if (tok && (tok->isStandardType() || (!tok->isKeyword() && Token::Match(tok, "%type%")) || tok->str() == "auto"))
         return true;
+    if (tok && tok->varId())
+        return false;
     if (Token::simpleMatch(tok, "::"))
         return isType(tok->astOperand2(), unknown);
     if (Token::simpleMatch(tok, "<") && tok->link())
diff --git a/test/testincompletestatement.cpp b/test/testincompletestatement.cpp
index 4be5ef1838c..a19cf6088df 100644
--- a/test/testincompletestatement.cpp
+++ b/test/testincompletestatement.cpp
@@ -666,6 +666,11 @@ class TestIncompleteStatement : public TestFixture {
               "}\n", /*inconclusive*/ true);
         ASSERT_EQUALS("[test.cpp:2]: (warning, inconclusive) Found suspicious operator '*', result is not used.\n", errout_str());
 
+        check("void f(int x, int y) {\n" // #12525
+              "    x * y;\n"
+              "}\n", /*inconclusive*/ true);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("[test.cpp:2]: (warning, inconclusive) Found suspicious operator '*', result is not used.\n", errout_str());
+
         check("void f() {\n" // #5475
               "    std::string(\"a\") + \"a\";\n"
               "}\n"