diff --git a/parser/src/tokenizer/lexer.rs b/parser/src/tokenizer/lexer.rs
index 775956bf62..b21cc77755 100644
--- a/parser/src/tokenizer/lexer.rs
+++ b/parser/src/tokenizer/lexer.rs
@@ -299,7 +299,11 @@ impl Token {
                         if input[i] == b'x' {
                             hex = true;
                         } else if input[i] == b'u' {
-                            unicode = true;
+                            if input[i + 1] == b'{' {
+                                unicode = true;
+                            } else {
+                                return (0, None);
+                            }
                         } else {
                             escaped = true;
                         }
diff --git a/tests/expectations/parser/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo.out b/tests/expectations/parser/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo.out
index de7ba436a9..5d8c93d1d4 100644
--- a/tests/expectations/parser/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo.out
+++ b/tests/expectations/parser/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo.out
@@ -9,4 +9,9 @@ outputs:
   - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | 'abcdefg'\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
   - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\t\\t'\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
   - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\u{bbbbb}\\u{aaaa}'\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
+  - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\u123'\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
+  - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\u1'        // panic\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
+  - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\u00000000' // should error\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
+  - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\u01000000' // should error\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
+  - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '\\u9999999'  // should error\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
   - "    --> test:1:1\n     |\n   1 | '😭😂😘'\n     | ^\n     |\n     = unexpected token: '''"
diff --git a/tests/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo b/tests/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo
index b930d4e5c2..aa5bb198f2 100644
--- a/tests/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo
+++ b/tests/parser/expression/literal/char_fail.leo
@@ -17,4 +17,11 @@ expectation: Fail
 
 '\u{bbbbb}\u{aaaa}'
 
-'😭😂😘'
\ No newline at end of file
+'\u123'
+
+'\u1'        // should error
+'\u00000000' // should error
+'\u01000000' // should error
+'\u9999999'  // should error
+
+'😭😂😘'