Form 4684 can be filed electronically. What your friend may have been mentioning might be the tax law changes for Form 4684 in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Beginning with tax year 2018 and through tax year 2025, you can only deduct casualty and theft losses if they're brought about due to an event that's been declared a disaster by the U.S. president.
And you must be able to itemize your return to take the deduction.
