False brinelling is a bearing damage caused by fretting, with or without corrosion, that causes imprints that look similar to brinelling, but are caused by a different mechanism. False brinelling may occur in bearings which act under small oscillations or vibrations.
The basic cause of false brinelling is that the design of the bearing does not have a method for redistribution of lubricant without large rotational movement of all bearing surfaces in the raceway. Lubricant is pushed out of a loaded region during small oscillatory movements and vibration where the bearings surfaces repeatedly do not move very far. Without lubricant, wear is increased when the small oscillatory movements occur again.  It is possible for the resulting wear debris to oxidize and form an abrasive compound which further accelerates wear.