Usually it's a scam, and for the exact reason you gave for taking less time than in previous jobs. It's one of those things that sounds great, but in practice

Usually it's a scam, and for the exact reason you gave for taking less time than in previous jobs. It's one of those things that sounds great, but in practice kind of sucks. If you took PTO every day, that's obviously abusing the system, and so is taking 6 months off, and so is taking 2, etc. The ambiguity makes people not take advantage of the policy because of worries about how it'll be perceived. Plus, other people also don't take PTO, so the collective pressure is self-reinforcing.