Hold on, if a VM works then that implies they are mainly using a combination of IP address and the "User-Agent" header to identify you, which includes basically your os version and browser, and is way easier to spoof than using a virtual machine. Try this extension to change what user-agent chrome sends: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-c/djflhoibgkdhkhhcedjiklpkjnoahfmg?hl=en-US
You can also use that to make your own user-agents, though they may validate that it's a sane looking user agent.
Were you using VM combined with VPN before? If not, then no it shouldn't.