You’ve been lied to. If you spent the last twenty minutes scouring the web for a magic button combination to instantly drop two billion dollars into Franklin’s bank account, I’ve got some bad news. There are no GTA V PS4 cheats for money. They don't exist. They never have.
It’s a weirdly persistent myth. You’ll see YouTube thumbnails with bright red arrows pointing at a pile of cash and a "cheat code" displayed in the corner, but those creators are just chasing clicks. Rockstar Games, the masterminds behind the Grand Theft Auto series, intentionally left a money cheat out of the game. Why? Because the entire progression system—the heist builds, the stock market manipulation, and the property management—revolves around the struggle for cash. If you could just tap "R1, R2, L1, X, Left, Down, Right, Up" and get rich, the story would basically break.
But don't click away yet. Just because there isn't a "cheat code" in the traditional sense doesn't mean you have to play the game like a broke civilian. You can still get filthy rich on the PS4 version of Grand Theft Auto V. You just have to know how the game’s internal systems actually work. Honestly, it’s more satisfying this way anyway.
The Lester Assassination Method: Your Real GTA V PS4 Cheats for Money
This is the big one. If you want to end the game with over $2 billion for each character, you have to ignore Lester’s assassination missions until the very end of the main story. Most players make the mistake of doing these missions as soon as they pop up. Don’t do that. You’ll be leaving literally billions on the table.
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Lester’s missions involve killing CEOs of major companies. When a CEO dies, their company's stock crashes and their rival's stock skyrockets. Here’s the trick: you wait until you finish "The Big Score" (the final heist). At that point, you’ll have the maximum amount of starting capital. You then take every single cent from Michael, Franklin, and Trevor and dump it into the specific stocks affected by Lester’s hits.
For example, before the "Hotel Assassination," you put everything into Betta Pharmaceuticals (BET) on the BAWSAQ. After the hit, you wait about 24 hours of in-game time, and you'll see a return of roughly 50%. It’s basically legal money printing. You sell at the peak, then reinvest in the rival company while their stock is in the gutter. Rinse and repeat for the Redwood Cigarette hit and the Facade mission. By the time you’re done, you’ll have more money than you could ever possibly spend on cars, planes, or the golf club.
Exploiting the Underwater Briefcases (The Old School Way)
Back when the game first launched on PS3 and later migrated to PS4, there were several "infinite money" glitches involving hidden packages underwater. One of the most famous spots is located off the coast of Paleto Bay. There’s a sunken plane wreck with a briefcase containing $12,000.
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In the early days, you could grab the briefcase, switch characters, and switch back immediately to find the briefcase had respawned. Rockstar patched the most egregious versions of this, but some variations still linger depending on which patch version you're running. Even without the "switch glitch," these hidden packages are a great way for a brand-new player to get a few hundred thousand dollars without firing a single bullet. There’s another case worth $25,000 near a sunken submarine in the Pacific Ocean. If you’re just starting out and need a fast car or some body armor, diving for treasure is the closest thing to a manual GTA V PS4 cheats for money you’ll find in the open world.
The Stock Market Isn't Just for Lester
You don't need a mission to play the market. The LCN and BAWSAQ markets are live ecosystems. A fun, albeit slightly sociopathic, way to influence the market is to go to the airport or a major trucking depot and destroy a specific company's fleet.
Say you want to mess with FlyUS. Go to the Los Santos International Airport and start blowing up FlyUS planes. The stock will eventually dip. Theoretically, you could buy the dip and wait for it to recover. To be fair, this method is way slower than the Lester missions, but it adds a layer of "organic" cheating that makes you feel like a true corporate saboteur.
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Also, keep an eye out for the random encounter with a guy named Tinkle near the tunnel on the way to Paleto Bay. If you give him a ride to the airport, he gives you a hot stock tip. If you invest immediately, you can see an easy 30% return in a matter of minutes. These little "blue dot" events on your map are often worth more than the actual missions if you have the capital to invest.
Why Rockstar Said No to Money Cheats
It’s interesting to look at the history here. In GTA: San Andreas, the "HESOYAM" cheat gave you $250,000, full health, and armor. It was the most used code in gaming history. But in GTA V, Rockstar shifted toward a more complex economy. They wanted players to feel the weight of the "Three Man Army" dynamic.
Plus, there’s the elephant in the room: GTA Online. While the single-player and multiplayer modes are technically separate, Rockstar clearly didn't want to encourage a "cheat for everything" culture. They want you to buy Shark Cards in Online, and while that doesn't affect the PS4 single-player campaign, it definitely influenced their design philosophy regarding "free" money.
Actionable Strategy for Your Next Playthrough
Stop looking for a code. It’s a waste of time. Instead, follow this blueprint to get rich:
- Save the Assassinations: Do not touch Lester’s "L" icons on the map (except the first mandatory one) until the credits roll on the main story.
- Complete the Big Score: Choose the "Obvious" approach for the highest payout. Ensure you use a talented but low-cut crew to maximize the protagonists' shares.
- Invest Everything: Use a guide to track the exact peak percentages for the BAWSAQ and LCN stocks during those post-game assassinations.
- The Altruist Cult: As Trevor, deliver people to the Altruist Cult. On the final delivery, you can clear out their camp and find several briefcases containing $25,000 each. It’s a nice $100k boost for very little effort.
- Save Often: Before you make any big investment, create a "hard save" on your phone. If the stock market glitches or you miss the peak, you can just reload and try again.
By the time you finish these steps, you won't care that there aren't any GTA V PS4 cheats for money. You'll have enough to buy every property in Los Santos twice over. Go buy that $10,000,000 Luxor Deluxe jet. You earned it.