Can a oil filter leak make it look like a oil gasket leak?

The oil filter housing on these cars is an entire assembly that bolts to the engine, the oil filter cartridge goes inside of it. The o-ring for the oil filter cap can be replaced during the service, but the oil filter housing gasket itself is a work intensive job that requires that separate assembly to be removed. These leaks are quite common on these cars. 325/328/330/335 and other BMWs with the same engines all have this at one point or another.