As a non-DVC-owner, there are two ways you can get a reservation for a DVC room/villa:
1) Pay cash for a reservation from Disney.
2) Rent a reservation from a DVC owner ("renting points"). You pay the owner to make the reservation for you through DVC. This can be done by finding an owner with points to rent and working directly with them, or by working with a broker who will find an owner and handle the transaction.
I'm not sure what your brother saw, but I can tell you that there's absolutely no mechanism for a non-DVC-member to make a reservation with points. DVC Member Services won't even speak to anyone who can't provide a DVC Member number and appropriate identifying info to back it up, and you can't get into the online points reservation system without having previously registered your membership with the site.
If you want a DVC villa and you want to book through Disney, your only option is the cash reservation, which is the most expensive way to book a villa.