The first scenario happened because of carelessness and ignorance. He saved his seed phrase on a phone without backups. Maybe keeping it in an email would have been safer since he can always have access to it.
To backup seed phrase online is not advisable.
You are correct. I was just explaining that he took the
wrongworst decision of not backing up. If he did that, he would have retrieved his seed phrase. Anyway, for emphasis, it is wrong to keep any financial information online, as it can be exposed to criminals very easily.