diff --git a/lib/tokenlist.cpp b/lib/tokenlist.cpp
index d8048af2ee3..3062451449a 100644
--- a/lib/tokenlist.cpp
+++ b/lib/tokenlist.cpp
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@ static void compileTerm(Token *&tok, AST_state& state)
             tok = tok->next();
         } while (Token::Match(tok, "%name%|%str%"));
     } else if (tok->isName()) {
-        if (Token::Match(tok, "return|case") || (state.cpp && tok->str() == "throw")) {
+        if (Token::Match(tok, "return|case") || (state.cpp && (tok->str() == "throw" || Token::simpleMatch(tok->tokAt(-1), ":: new")))) {
             if (tok->str() == "case")
                 state.inCase = true;
             const bool tokIsReturn = tok->str() == "return";
diff --git a/test/testtokenize.cpp b/test/testtokenize.cpp
index f6a0a67f4eb..2d4f514f99d 100644
--- a/test/testtokenize.cpp
+++ b/test/testtokenize.cpp
@@ -6220,6 +6220,7 @@ class TestTokenizer : public TestFixture {
         ASSERT_EQUALS("pint0{new=", testAst("p = new int*{ 0 };"));
         ASSERT_EQUALS("pint5[{new=", testAst("p = new int* [5]{};"));
         ASSERT_EQUALS("pint5[0{new=", testAst("p = new int* [5]{ 0 };"));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("sSint(new::(new=", testAst("s = new S(::new int());")); // #12502
 
         // placement new
         ASSERT_EQUALS("X12,3,(new ab,c,", testAst("new (a,b,c) X(1,2,3);"));