OK, just WHO is the sock bandit?

As I wait for the clothes to wash and dry, I'm arranging SOCKS into piles by color and size. It never fails that there are some left alone, one stray sock here and there (which also pile up over time)! So, as most Moms will do, we make certain that the kids didn't just leave one~say, under their beds~or perhaps it just fell behind the hamper when one of them decided to practice basketball! Then you painstakingly move the washer and/or dryer, to make sure that one didn't just fall behind or between there.
Of course, this makes it yet another 'issue' when getting ready for school, especially when you have little 'divas' as I do! I've instilled in them the NEED to 'match', so of course, if there isn't a 'white' shirt, then they don't want 'white' socks! So, as they're whining, I'm madly sorting through that 'designated' basket of "LOST" socks, to find that match to make an authentic pair! Well, grrrrr....!!!! That does NOT always happen.
So, can someone PLEASE tell me: "Just who IS this sock bandit"? Does he/she actually go from home to home, dryer to dryer, STEALING just ONE sock? Could it actually be a sock PIRATE? With only one leg, and the other wooden? I'd really like to know, because I give up and actually just go buy more 'bags' of pairs for them, only to accumulate even more!