How to know what's my iphone 4s carrier using IMEI? I have an iphone 4s ios 6.1.3 my cousin bought it from U.S.A or so he says. He says the carrier is Verizon CDMA. However in the settings I see carrier: virgin 14.0

I am outside the USA so i need a sim unlock, I contacted virgin USA, they said that the IMEI is not registered in the system, i need to contact apple they will unlock it.

I contacted apple USA on the phone, they said they don't unlock phones, they only help with hardware issues, I need to contact virgin to unlock it!

I contacted a local apple store, I asked them how to know whats my carrier? They said virgin 14.0 is nothing, not important, it doesn't mean that my iphone is virgin
I gave them the IMEI and they are trying to see if it can be unlocked.

I have some questions:


How to know what's the carrier using IMEI? My IMEI is 99 000266 076389 5 I tried to use an online IMEI checker, it only says service expired
How to know in which country it was registered? As you know virgin and other carriers are available in many countries, I want to know what support team I should contact.
Since the phone seems to be locked to the carrier, is there a way to know what's the iphone phone number was using IMEI?
Indeed, Apple cannot provide you such information and they do not either unlock iPhones. This can be done only through the Mobile Network in which your iPhone is locked to, and you need to meet some criteria (I think they are different to every carrier). The number one requirement is to have paid all the monthly fees and you are the owner of that iPhone (That was very obvious).
Now, in order to find out the Network that blocks your iPhone, you will have to find an online IMEI Checker, like the one it is mentioned in a previous answer. The free imei checker (unfortunately), are not always accurate (I have checked many times the same imei number, and in some cases [very few] the results were changing). There are some paid IMEI checker services, which are very cheap and in case of false results they will fully refund you. You can check the IMEI Checker I have used, and their results (Until now) are very accurate.
I highly recommend to everyone to make those kind of checks before buying an iPhone from an online store. Unfortunately I learn it the hard way, so always double check what you are going to buy! :S