Not a new tactic. A classic way to cut down exploit attempts to something you can actually monitor rather than a firehose, for sites that don't need an international audience, is to blackhole IP blocks from China and Russia. Sites have been doing that since at least the early 2000s.

This is futile. There's these services called VPN's that let me exit my traffic into the US.

For a motivated attacker for sure but if you're just trying to cut down on run of the mill low quality stuff this seems effective.

> This is futile.

I will pop by and rob you later, I assume you have no windows, doors or locks and wont call the police after I clean you out because it would be futile.