Everything everyone has mentioned here is great, but not a lot of exact details.
The key term that people are skipping with you is Polyvinyl Chloride PVC. Every warning you’re getting is about that, and they’re right, never laser PVC, not even once.
Lots of people use the terms interchangeably, but that’s not necessarily true. Like @evermorian says, “vinyl” is kind of like “kleenex”, in that people use it broadly when technically it means one thing.
So. When evaluating “vinyl”, you need to find out exactly what it’s made of and then find out if that is laser safe. PVC definitely isn’t, searching the forum like evermorian suggests will help you out if you come across a plastic you’re not familiar with.
You might find #4 (and others) interesting: