I don’t either but I think the blame is often misplaced, most of them literally don’t know any better. They go to an ad network’s website, check a box agreeing to the deal, and receive a prompt to read on air.
Now of course they should be doing their own due diligence, but this is the state of podcast advertising right now (and has been for a while, see: BetterHelp controversy)
The bullshit is coming straight from the VPN providers themselves, fear mongering for profit.