Do you think VPNs are a waste of money than?
Don’t think so, VPNs increase the threshold/resources spent to discover who is behind some actions.
If the case is low profile, no one is going to track a vpn, but if a VPN isn’t used, then it’s easier, and lower profile will be pursued.
Worth remembering that VPNs prevent (or at least make it much more difficult to perform) man-in-the-middle attacks.